We can never know the ratio
of robins to sparrows,
of music to midnights,
but the moon
is an easy integer,
how it divides itself
by quarter,
by half,
by three quarters
until it disappears
into countable darkness.
Oh moon, easy number one –
one with a dozen faces,
your extremes all predictable,
you the antecedent
to a consequent of stars.
–
Colette Tennant has three books of poetry: Commotion of Wings, Eden and After, and Sweet Gothic. Her book, Religion in The Handmaid’s Tale: a Brief Guide, was published in 2019 to coincide with Atwood’s publication of The Testaments. Her poems have won various awards and have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes along with being published in various journals, including Prairie Schooner, Rattle, Southern Poetry Review, and Poetry Ireland Review. Colette is an English and Humanities Professor who has also taught art in Great Britain, Germany, and Italy.
© 2025, Colette Tennant
Halfway Down the Stairs 