I am a retired professor of French, living in New York City, taking painting lessons, and writing. This year I was pleased to have two books published by small presses: The Unknowing Muse (Dos Madres, 2014) and Wars Don’t Happen Anymore (Deerbrook Editions, 2015). 

   
Christmas Eve, 1968


Men are orbiting the Moon!

Captain Anders of Apollo 8
salutes Earth’s people 
for his team, first three men to see 
a lunar sunrise, so sudden and so clear 
in the absent atmosphere. 
     
A boy of 9, my son, listens
as Anders begins a message 
to everyone down here:

        In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
        And the earth was without form, and void; …And the Spirit 
        of God moved upon the face of the waters…

Then, Lovell reads the part
about Dark becoming “Night,” 
and “Day” being made from Light; 
Borman’s portion
speaks of gathered Oceans. 
    
My boy is stirred  
by the words. Who wrote that, 
Ma? It’s great! Maybe, after all,
I should have sent him to a Sunday School,
but there’s a Bible on our shelves
for us to read ourselves

while Madeleine Murray O’Hair,
the Unbeliever, prepares
to sue the government 
for giving God so much attention
on a National Occasion.
     
High Court Judges will dismiss
her case, insisting 
that the Moon and its environs
lie beyond their jurisdiction.