Wolf Moon, 1986 & Blood Moon, 2025
Daniel Nathan Terry
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Wolf Moon, 1986
There is little
a lonely boy will refuse. Little
he’ll protect. Almost nothing
he’ll turn down. Kisses alone
he’ll withhold. Only girls
kiss boys. I knew
why other boys turned my head
each time I tried
to show them love. Wasn’t gay
to use me again
and again for release. They’d come
out with me
on Saturday nights, drink
just enough beer to blame it
and me for their fire as they
branded me queer. But you—
you asked Do you kiss?
and stopped my hand mid-thigh
on your jeans. I never dreamed
another boy’s lips
could be a balm, cool
on that burning brand
as the Wolf Moon’s blue
light on your face
that January night
the first time
I was loved.
___________
Blood Moon, 2025
March 14th
Sleep? What sleep will come now
is troubled and brief. The night
is too bright and the light is wrong.
White-throated sparrows tremble
their whistles into the rising wind. I have fed
them so much seed since November 5th
(oh, generosity of spirit may save us, if not
will the blade blade blade?)
and left the brown oak leaves beneath
their trees for the worms and moths
that give them life. They spend their frantic days
scratching scratching scratching
for fewer and fewer pupae each winter in the dark
and poisoned soil. The night is harrowed
by songs of waking and the moon lies bloodied
by Earth’s relentless penumbra. Tomorrow
is the Ides of March, but no good man
is sharpening his knife and no eyes
but yours and mine are on the sparrows
as they fall fall fall.
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Daniel Nathan Terry is the author of 3 books of poetry: City of Starlings (Sibling Rivalry Press), Waxwings (Lethe Press), and Capturing the Dead (NFSPS Press) which also won The Stevens Prize. His poems and short stories have appeared in several journals, including Cimmaron Review, The Greensboro Review, and New South, and have appeared in the LGBTQ+ anthologies This Assignment Is So Gay and Collective Brightness.
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