Poets Salon: Under the Brightest Moon

POETS SALON

Full Harvest Moon in Pasadena, Sept. 20, 2021 (Photo – Kathabela Wilson)

– 09/22/21

Hosted by Kathabela Wilson

waiting for you here
on our balcony

i knew you would find me

harvest moon…
pure and round
full of hope

~ Kathabela

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Mooncakes (Photo – Lisbeth Ho)

Lisbeth Ho

As a Chinese descendant in Indonesia I also celebrate the Mooncake Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival. The main tradition is family eating mooncakes with tea while the moon in its brightest and roundest shape. In Chinese culture, a round shape symbolizes completeness and reunion. Besides sharing mooncakes with families, we also watch the lanterns releasing to the sky, sending good wishes and many more. This year the festival falls on September 21st for three days.

According to the legend, the mooncakes were created by an earth hero of god’s descendant man who desperately longed for his wife. His wife had flown to the moon leaving him on earth because of swallowing the elixir of eternal life preventing it from a theft. She became a moon goddess living with her rabbit in the moon palace.

Under the Brightest Moon

white lotus paste
in the mooncakes
taste from ancestors

deep homesickness
under the brightest moon

sound of gu-zheng
the thirst of homeland’s longing
quenched

chinese letters
on the red box
father’s brush strokes

lady in floral cheongsam
reading her poetry

autumn stars
the sparkling of thousands wish
for a rainbow

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Artwork by Ta Lin

Vandana Parashar
and Lisbeth Ho

Yearnful Moon

mooncakes
across the islands
diaspora sip tea (LH)

half-dead fire
we sing half a song (VP)

lanterns
soaring up to the silent sky
yearnful moon (LH)

thinning clouds
I wonder yet again
why you left (VP)

painting the night
with everlasting love (LH)

autumn rain
I lose you
to find you again (VP)

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Under the Brightest Moon: Quotes and Credits

Notes:
*cheongsam is a straight dress, usually of silk or cotton, with a stand-up collar and a slit in one side of the skirt is worn by Chinese women.

*gu-zheng is a traditional Chinese plucked zither musical instrument with its high pitched sound.

Lisbeth Ho, whose complete name is Elisabeth Holidaya, is a housewife. Before marriage she was an English instructor in Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. She currently resides in Salatiga, a peaceful small town in Central Java province. She is a tanka, haiku, free verse poet, as well as a writer of contemplative writing. Her works have appeared in various print and online journals and books. She also served as an editor for Antologi Tanka Indonesia (January 2019), the first tanka anthology in Indonesia.

Vandana Parashar is a postgraduate in Microbiology, an educator and a Haiku poet in progress. She started getting acquainted with and writing haiku in 2015 and soon found solace in it.
Her haiku, senryu and tanka have been published in many national and international journals of repute and has won her many prizes and accolades. Her haiku was also shortlisted for the prestigious Touchstone Award in 2021.
Her debut e-chapbook “I Am” was published by Title IX Press in 2019, with her heart and soul put into the work. She currently resides in Panchkula with her husband, two daughters and her one-year-old puppy.

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Submission Guidelines

Suggest your own theme. or write Kathabela for a theme suggestion. We publish every two weeks. Send short poems, free verse, haiku, senryu, tanka, cherita, haibun, tanka prose, short prose poems, etc., or your own unique approach, to Kathabela by text message or (click here to email her directly). We can feature your work again after five months. Multiple Submissions can be saved to appear later:

1. Send a short bio, with comments on your theme.
2. Send photos or artwork by you, or friends.
3. Put your poems directly in the email.
4. No attachments except photos.

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