A moon circles an earth circling a sun–
their orbits snag for a moment in time,
their planes and fields of gravity align.
In her darkening garden a woman stands,
now, slowly turns in her garden darkened,
returns to herself, moonlit, incanting
Xique-xique, Ita, Penha, Itjai–
one Brazilian town named for flowers,
three small cities named for birds–all extinct.
She will not she will not forget their splash
of red cascading, flash of feathers calling
Hear me Here I Where are you, darling flesh?
Woman watching a lunar eclipse rose
the morning after to tell the dark.