moth on the glass and the
moth on the window screen
ever so lightly my fingers
on the screen and the moth flies up
lighter than my fingers
this is the moth
both unbidden and inevitable
a curving streak toward and away
from the light curving
like the edges of the shouldering moon
but the moth on the glass
grows larger in its waiting
something more important is coming
than this thin drumming my fingers
these fingers drumming upon the keyboards
never stopping to breathe hands on knees
these are fingers and the moths are flying
beyond waiting but also
moon reaching through the glass
the moth in the night and the
(da capo)
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 15, Issue 1.
Charles Wyatt is the author of two collections of short fiction, a novella, and two poetry chapbooks. He holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music, The Philadelphia Musical Academy, and Warren Wilson College. He presently teaches for UCLA Extension and in the Low Residency MFA Program of the University of Nebraska. Before devoting himself exclusively to writing and teaching, he was principal flutist of the Nashville Symphony for 25 years.
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