Blue Moon

By R.H. Mustard

This is a book of modern poems focusing on love and death. The overall arc of the book covers three sections, Before, After, and After Life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: R.H. Mustard
• Release date: Dec 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465980731

R.H. Mustard

My poems explore love and death. I am most interested in the unexpected way words speak to each other, the way imagery fires our imagination so we see the world with fresh senses, a new understanding. I taught English for ten years at several universities and community colleges. In my thirties I left academia and worked in corporate communications, from which I retired in 2008.

Book preview

Blue Moon

By R.H. Mustard

Copyright 2011 R.H. Mustard

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Cover photo is from Bora Bora, French Polynesia. Taken by author.

For Deborah

Table of Contents

I. Before

Car Wash

Driver’s Ed

Status

Tutor

Cell

Equinox

Fraternal

Protection

Psyche

Dry Season

Skin Deep

Baggage

Past Due

Zoo

II. After

Carnival

Blue Moon

Cloister

On Time

Winter

Honeymoon

Summer

Prenatal

Standby

Desire

Offers

Snapshot

Shelter

Ink

Santa Ana

Traffic

Predator

Departures

Rumor

No Fault

Open Season

Sweet Science

Waiting

Babyland

Fall

Itinerary

Turbulence

Conversion

III. After Life

Boxes

Checkout

Arrival

Spring

Inquiry

Afterlife

Check In

Tomorrowland

Not You

Acceptance

Appointment

Real Estate

Recycled

Fare

Weeds

Anxiety

River

Reflection

Safety Razor

High Roller

Sleep

Commute

Son

Sideshow

Stray

First Class

The Chosen

The Silence

Memory

Trophy

Undiscovered Country

Nocturnal

Visage

Voyager

Work Ethic

Assisted Living

Autumn

Culling

Epitaph

Author Information

I. Before

Carwash

Dragged into

the holy mist,

covered in soap,

my old coupe

was scrubbed raw,

confessed of secrets,

baptized, anointed,

absolved.

Sin cleansed away,

she emerged born again,

fit for taking

to church on Sunday.

Fully fueled,

without blemish,

she ached for the dark road

to the promised land,

for hard driving,

going the distance.

Each ride since has carried me

farther away

from summer nights

of cheap gas, easy girls,

my old man's wasted breath.

Driver’s Ed

When I first taught you

how to drive,

we both slipped in behind

the wheel, hoping

to learn quickly,

but our bodies held us hostage,

making unreasonable demands

in a language

we did not yet understand.

We drove in this foreign land,

without signs for Slow,

Yield, and Stop,

going way outside the lines,

off-road, unlicensed,

heavily under the influence,

desperate to learn

the driving art

for the first big test

in a driven world

How will I pass, you said.

if we keep going like this?

You