Vanessa Blakeslee
A graduate of the MFA in Writing at Vermont College of Fine Arts, Vanessa Blakeslee attended the 2010 Bread Loaf Writers Conference. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in the New York Quarterly, Illuminations, Italian Americana, The Sows Ear Poetry Review, Southern Poetry Review and other places. She directs Maitland Poets & Writers, a community organization which focuses on expanding the literary arts throughout Central Florida.
Eclipse
That black disc which rolls over the moon,
lazy and accepting,
a romance flaunting the skies
above the peninsula, catches
for nine minutes
on the tree-top stage of rustling palms.
Families stagger into the lamp-lit streets
and parks, youngsters on shoulders,
the steady fingers of parents point-
“Look, the moon is dancing with the sun!”
But the view, clear above the lake,
isn't enough for minds so close
to the dream-world of birth, and the before-life.
The young clamor and howl, climb and
knock down neighbors, eager for a better view,
knowing there always exists the promise,
hidden, of nature's magic tricks-
the sun sneaking up on the moon to steal a kiss,
shooting stars, and
creepy-crawlers under the red rocks of Mars.