CAPRICORN NEW MOON GUEST CONTRIBUTOR : MIRANDA PEAKE
WEDS 13 JAN 05:00 - Mooning Monthly associating with the literati.....
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FORTNIGHTLY EMAIL MESSAGE HERE
Welcome to the first edition of MOON LIT, a monthly platform for new literature with a lunar theme. 13 notable writers have been invited to compose a poem for exclusive publication at each of this year's 13 new moons. These literary works seek to celebrate and revere, marvel, champion and cherish, whilst never shirking the necessary excavation of life's shadows in search of the priceless shining diamonds within. As such, each work is a poetic invitation to contemplate our reading of, and reaction to, circumstance, that we may more consciously direct our thoughts, words and actions toward positive benefit for All.
In many wisdom traditions the five days surrounding a new moon are considered the most advantageous window in the lunar month to plant seeds, both literal and metaphoric. A seed carries a clear intent for growth and fruition but requires nurture. Farmers across the planet still plant crops at new moon ensuring the best start for germinating shoots, drawing strength from the gravitational pull of the waxing moon. The best tended beginnings regularly produce the most bountiful harvests.
In planting clearly defined seeds of conscious intent at new moon, we too harness the same lunar tide to germinate and gather our own harvest from the fertile soil of circumstance. In a very literal sense, with care and attention, we aspire to reap what we sow from the conditions at our disposal.
Over the coming year MOON LIT will offer a monthly meditative pause under the poetic guidance of our distinguished literary guests. It is hoped readers will find time in busy schedules to unhurriedly savour their literary craft; to read and reread these new perspectives on the miraculous, beguiling life experience to which we all belong.
Do please share MOON LIT with others of similar lunar sensitivity, encouraging this illuminating verse to brighten our currently challenging, darkened times with the light of beauty and Love.
With love 'til next time
Mark
The first contributor to MOON LIT is Miranda Peake, a poet and visual artist based in London. Her poems have been published in magazines and journals including, Ambit, Banshee, Bare Fiction, Oxford Poetry, Magma, The Moth and The Rialto. In 2014 she won the Mslexia Poetry Competition and in 2018 she was placed second in the Poetry and Psychoanalysis Competition. Her first pamphlet was published in November 2019 with Live Canon. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Royal Holloway and is part of the Hornet Press. She is also the owner of independent bookshop, Chener Books in South East London.
She offers us two delicate works from her London lockdown.
Come on, it'll be worth it
I was dreaming when you woke me - in the Tardis again,
David Tennant leaping about, slamming levers
up and down, whirling through the years and I knew
I could go anywhere I wanted. But here we are, in the garden -
You crane your neck to see, Jupiter and Saturn, closer
than ever. I stand beside you in the cold, picking out
the stars I know and then I see the moon low in the sky, steady
through the muddle of trees. Look at the moon, I say
and you say, Holy Cow! And now I'm awake fully and glad
you insisted, took the slippers off your long pale feet
so I could wear them, put your coat on over your pyjamas.
Look North, they'd said on the news, once in a lifetime.
The DIY shop stays open
He is slow and quiet and while I wait I look at hammers
and chisels and different types of varnish, bathroom paint
and normal paint, paint for sheds and paint for masonry.
Phillips screwdrivers and the other kind, sandpaper and fillers
and rawl plugs, until finally he’s finished, handing me
the heavy can of blue for our new bedroom. In the flat
I paint a patch above our bed, so we can get used to it.
That night I lie with your arm across my body like a seat belt,
the curved blade of the moon bright in the sky and I’m certain
we have the things we need.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FORTNIGHTLY EMAIL MESSAGE HERE