“viii” by Lisa Gill

The third poem in my Poetry Picks Series, which celebrates poetry and honors poets, is from Lisa Gill’s first book of poetry titled “Red as a Lotus,” a collection of approximately 110  fourteen-lined epistolary poems addressed to Thomas Merton.

Many poems in this collection read as contemplative meditations while others provide voice to spiritual and existential questions whose answers are often ephemeral. Described by La Alameda press as a collection “with an eye which stays true to the bone,” and by others alternately as a mystery and a revelation, Lisa Gill’s first book of poetry is a worthy read and one every serious poet should have on his or her bookshelf.

viii

I watched the lunar eclipse. Ever so gradually the shadow

of the earth crept across the surface of the moon until nothing

but an infinitely fine sliver remained. And standing under

a street lamp, I realized I’m part of what blocks the light,

just another person on this planet spinning about, following

one dizzying pattern after another, rarely bothering to calculate

the ramifications of my orbit. Perhaps despite every attempt

to move in good faith, I’ll always end up coming between the sun

and the place it should shine. When the moon started waxing,

people spilled back into buildings. I held out, thinking how

fifteen minutes ago, the bars emptied onto the street an

for a while, we all stood still and looked up, past any neon,

to the moon — as if were new, as if it were last call. Heading

back into the bar I prayed my shadow sheds such light.

– – – – – –

“Red as  Lotus” is available from La Alameda Press, New Mexico (ISBN #1-888809-33-7)

Check back here for a future interview with Lisa Gill and learn about the many projects she has been, and continues to be, involved in since the publication of her first book.