Highway Haiku – Moon Slice Pie

Polaroid picture that has been overlaid with silver leaf and a transfer print of a full moon and the text of the haiku

moon slice pie
peeking
we rush to
see the
comet
before
it
fades

This transfer print was a bit of an experiment – when I was cleaning out my father’s house, I found a box of old tarnished ultra-thin silver leaf for gilding or embossing. I’m guessing my Dad got this at a garage sale or the like since he does not do anything (hobby or past career-wise) that would require books of silver leaf. I saved the box and decided to see if I could transfer print onto one of the leaves. There was some trial and error (still ongoing) but it more or less worked! The scan of the piece doesn’t do the texture and light quality justice. It’s been almost a year since I’ve gone out stargazing in the desert and I miss it. This poem (a haiku in syllables if not form) was inspired by the times we’ve been racing to beat the moonrise and set up telescopes and cameras in order to see or photograph something astronomical.

11 comments

  3. Hello Marcy! It seems this past year had a cornucopia of astronomical events. I must say the moon has loomed large. If only one could manage a slice and a tipple of the Milky Way (less light pollution wouldn’t hurt either). Which makes me think of Italo Covino’s book Cosmicomics, and the story The Distance of the Moon. Definitely worth a read. Also…Science is Fiction 23 films by Jean Painleve. It’s a Criterion DVD. All the best your way. Take Care!

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    1. Thank you, Kerfe! Even with the scanner, it didn’t catch the light the way is does in person. But it still showed the moon slice pie 🙂

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    1. Thank you, Jilanne! I know – my father is a bit of a hoarder as well, so it was surprise after surprise! – and he doesn’t remember why he had these books of silver leaf either! H

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