Earth Native

Earth is where you stand
is where we’re going under,
this ground made of
third planet from the sun
I am in wonder—

four and a half billion years old,
most species extinct in that time
of mostly water bodies
above liquid outer core

affecting magnetic field
I am drawn to pulled towards
no leaving atoms behind
all this energy will go on

in the death, the photons of
bounce
off to detectors of particle,
neurons

electromagnetically charged,
everything staying alive
how even Earth’s core

iron made (slight alloy)
helps magnetic field
keep away sun’s harm,
certain area melt—

other pressures
too great—
for heaviness
sinking
to cooling’s
growing center

hard to believe
what goes on—
under all
the Earth’s layers.

Between a Star and a Planet

“Failed star,” “brown dwarf”—
names that belie your prominence
as if you hadn’t been what you are

supposed to be—perfect
in your having enough mass,
enough density and pressure
to keep your core as you want—
without fusion—to cool

on your own timetable
of hundreds of millions of years
in space
to radiate your variances

in your true, most infrared light.

Supermoon

Directly between Sun and Moon, Earth turns
birthing to blood-red hue a Moon closer
than normal with greens and blues scattered,
refracted, by Earth particles of umbral shadow
to Sun’s rays showering
toward total moon eclipse
in wolves howling
coldest time—
early part of the year

Lunar Eclipses

Earth casts blocked-Sun shadow
on Moon in fullness completing orbit.

Three is the number of impact,
the number of eclipse types
and yearly chances of happening.

Total eclipse, blood Moon epithet,
garnering superstitions
of Moon turned red

dependent on dust,
ash, clouds, wavelengths
in red and blue—

optical effects.
Perfect alignment
between Sun/Moon/Earth

isn’t always the order.
Moon tilts towards Earth
to inch away yearly
as satellite too far away

to fully fill Earth’s demarcation
in umbral shadow

forecasted for change
billions of years from now.

Poetry