Tell me you’re happy—I hate to think the sky 
is full-faced with misery every 28 days. Tell me
you’re not cheese—I need more to believe in than
curdled milk hanging in our sky. Tell me you’re not

watching all I do and will send home a report card,
passing and failing grades. Tell me that facing the same 
direction night after night doesn’t bore you, you’re
not phased by it. Moon, tell me, has our word “lunacy”

left you a little scarred? It’s not fair. Tell me, when
did you first learn to reflect sunlight our way, and who
taught you how to mesmerize? Tell me something
we still haven’t learned about your secret side, or

about the Egyptians wrapping bodies we still have 
in our glimpses-of-the-past museums. Good moon, 
tell me a bedtime story tonight as you smile
steadily on rabbits ravens and raccoons asleep.

Tell me, please, let’s have the truth about that man
in you—what on earth are we supposed to tell the kids? 

*Epigraph is from “O California” in Cynthia Huntington’s poetry collection We Have Gone to the Beach (Alice James Books, 1996).

“Oh, Moon” is from Griswold’s in-progress collection (working title: Report from the Front); an earlier version of the poem was first published in Crosswinds Poetry Journal (Volume IX, 2023).

Harry Griswold

After a career in computer programming and teaching computing skills for several large companies, Harry Griswold fully embraced his love of poetry and earned an MFA from Pacific University. He has led his popular workshop, “The Pleasures of Poetry,” in Solana Beach for more than 15 years. He is the author of the poetry collections Just Enough Clothes (Garden Oak Press, 2014) and Camera Obscura (Wordcraft of Oregon, 2007), and his work has been nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize.

Originally from Rochester, New York, Harry divides his time between San Diego and the mountain town of Idyllwild, California. There, he and his wife, Stephanie, actively support the Idyllwild Arts Foundation, which runs a residential high school of the arts and a summer arts program for all ages.

Author’s website: http://www.harrygriswold.com