Moonbeam
a repost of a poem, written in high school by yours truly.
Dim, guttering light from an incandescent bulb
Heavy, D-cell batteries
Corrosion resistant brass fixtures
A whole stack of polycarbonate filters in the screw-on base
Olive, drab green plastic
Spare bulb tucked away under the coil-spring terminal
Waterproof rubber seals
My Scoutmaster told me he used it in the
Marine Corps
Red for map reading
White for signaling
Blue for blood tracking
And the diffuser to reduce
Your signature
Shitting in the latrine
The soft, white filter lights up
The wood shack
Just enough to
See the toilet paper
But not enough to really see
And then, the creamy yellow light
Slowly dims
Starts and stutters
Hit the damn thing a few times
The contacts might be loose
Nope
That ain’t it
And as I screw the light together
The light has one last flicker
One last breath
Before it and I
Are consumed
By the darkness.