the moon plays interesting tricks
casting shadows that are lighter
than their midday counterparts
cast by the heat of the sun burning
into harsh shapes clearly defined
versus the cool soft shadows
of high moon in the evening
where we dance they dance
beside us as silent partners
in this lunatic moment perhaps
we are reading the shadows
correctly; forever can draw
a circle connecting right now
to our ancestors who danced
under the same moonlighting
and our featureless shadows
reflect not us but our past
made present in a direct line
to what was and what is
and what is yet to to be
as the world turns we turn
with it in an unbroken cycle
A response to Sanaa’s prompt over at dVerse to use derivatives in a poem. I used the phrase “perhaps we are reading the shadow wrong; forever cannot draw a circle” from Winter Moon, changing wrong to correctly and cannot to can.
Copyright © 2021 TJS Sherman All rights reserved.
Musing & Creating with T.J.S. Sherman 
Love this!
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Thank you!
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This is absolutely stunning! Especially love; “forever can draw a circle connecting right now to our ancestors who danced under the same moonlighting.” Thank you so much for writing to the prompt. 💝💝
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Thank you, I appreciate the prompt!
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Interesting how you reversed the sense of the line to compose a thought-provoking poem! Great work 🙂
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Great response to the line Sanaa gave us … a lovely well penned poem.
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I appreciate it
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The connection to our ancestors dancing under the same moonlight is powerful! ❣
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For me at least, I always feel like the dark is more ancient and primal, which is why I think that’s why my thoughts went there.
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Yes, there is a mystical element there, under the moonlight!
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I went existential dread, you went existential connectedness from the same phrase. Such an interesting insight into how poetry works.
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I’m usually more towards dread, but for this one I felt an optimism
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I love the imagery of the moon and the sun… after all there is no other light than the sun, the moon is simply a mirror.
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Nice reflection 😉
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This is FANTASTIC, Tom. I just love this nuance in your imagery… wow!
❤
David
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I love this! Especially the idea of featureless shadows as a connection to past and future.
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T.,
The moon’s shadows and ours and the mythic resonances connecting to the past and ancestral ties weave that circle, a circle of timelessness in time, in your poetry. Beautiful.
pax,
dora
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