Map Literary: A Journal of Contemporary Writing and Art
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    • On Experimental Fiction
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    • Justin Meckes, "The Gash"
    • Reb Livingston, from "Bombyonder"
    • Craig Foltz, "Without Stigma"
  • Nonfiction
    • Kristina Moriconi, "Still Looking"
    • Wm. Anthony Connolly, "IGY"
    • Cal Freeman, "Loosestrife"
    • W.F. Lantry, "The Strange Beauty of the Unfamiliar"
    • Michael Roloff, "Accretion"
    • Andrew Sunshine, "John Hancock's John Hancock"
    • Diane Payne, "3 micro memoirs"
    • Luc Sante, "Flesh and Bone"
    • Isobel O'Hare, "Failure: A Love Letter"
    • Melissa Wiley, "Barbed Wire Fence"
    • Ashley Wilkinson, "fractional distillation"
  • Art
Picture

Sally Ashton


And Counting

But when I flew to the moon
it was in a silver Studebaker
the steering wheel like Jupiter’s ring
as round as any planet comet streak
constellations dials and gauges
spun so fast it was like standing still
stars whirled past the windshield
I wasn’t looking when I saw such things
the sounds I made I cannot make now
I have forgotten how which is why I think
the moon never gets closer than it did then
I knelt on the front seat holding on
to the steering wheel. And flew.  


Eclipse at Solstice


                                    Do you think I could walk pleasantly and well-suited                                                                           toward annihilation? …Walt Whitman, “On Time”
 
 
The moon drew a veil across its face.
 
I put on my moon-watching socks.
 
The moon seeking dream peered with one eye, a squint of light.
 
The moon’s memory wiped away.
 
How like the ancients to howl and be heard, to see Orion’s belt and
one red star.
 
To wait for the end, to believe in beginnings, to see that nothing
stands still.
 
And the moon turned red, charred red, and you said it had been
400 years.
 
Cloud spun thick and covered the sky, the moon’s fixed grin, its
bloodied face.
 
To lie on our backs wide open and wait; there is no satisfaction.
 
I wanted to call everyone; I called to no one but the moon.
 
And the back door opened and closed.
 
I felt midnight pass, and the shortest day passed.
 
And in the moon’s dream Walt Whitman, wearing his finest suit,
​tipped his hat. 
  


Copyright © September 2017 Map Literary and Sally Ashton

Picture
Sally Ashton is the author of three collections, most recently Some Odd Afternoon (BlazeVOX 2010). She is editor of DMQ Review, an online journal featuring poetry and art since 1998, and teaches at San José State University. 


published by
The Department of English
College of Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences
The William Paterson University of New Jersey
Copyright © 2012-2022 Map Literary
Map Literary

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  • About
    • Masthead
    • Submissions
    • Rachel Wetzsteon Chapbook Award
    • NJ High School Writing Contest
    • In Print
    • Subscribe
    • Links
    • Internship Opportunity
    • WPU MFA
  • Poetry
    • Sherwood Anderson
    • Mark DeCarteret
    • Dennis Hinrichsen Poetry
    • Daniel Biegelson
    • Natan Last
    • Jim Daniels Poetry
    • Michael Chang
    • D E Steward
    • Benjamin Paloff Poetry
    • David Dodd Lee
    • Isabelle Doyle
    • Kathleen Heil
    • Leonard Kress
    • Lauren Tess
    • Cesca Janece Waterfield
    • Billy Cancel Poetry
    • Scott Minar
    • Greg Glazner
    • Bruce McRae
    • Maureen Thorson
  • Fiction
    • On Experimental Fiction
    • Mark Cassidy, "How I Met My Wife"
    • Emily Trachtenberg, "Plum"
    • Hector Donovan-Gonzalez
    • Christopher Linforth, "Zia"
    • Jenessa Abrams, "You Never Wish That Upon Anyone"
    • Eros Livieratos, "On Feeling"
    • Halsted M. Bernard, "Your Hands"
    • Justin Meckes, "The Gash"
    • Reb Livingston, from "Bombyonder"
    • Craig Foltz, "Without Stigma"
  • Nonfiction
    • Kristina Moriconi, "Still Looking"
    • Wm. Anthony Connolly, "IGY"
    • Cal Freeman, "Loosestrife"
    • W.F. Lantry, "The Strange Beauty of the Unfamiliar"
    • Michael Roloff, "Accretion"
    • Andrew Sunshine, "John Hancock's John Hancock"
    • Diane Payne, "3 micro memoirs"
    • Luc Sante, "Flesh and Bone"
    • Isobel O'Hare, "Failure: A Love Letter"
    • Melissa Wiley, "Barbed Wire Fence"
    • Ashley Wilkinson, "fractional distillation"
  • Art