Full Blood Moon Turned Red

For Steve Kowit, 1938-2015

Because we were friends
he always sent me his books;
The Dumbbell Nebula
The First Noble Truth
Heart in Utter Confusion
Lurid Confessions
and the one on writing poetry
In the Palm of Your Hand

His last email to me was on my birthday
December 29, 2014
and he asked for my address
so that he could send more books
but he died before he could
get them to me

So I am cutting his poems
out of The Sun
and making my own book
of his latest poetry
Putting the poems
in plastic sleeves

and then into a three-ring binder
I haven't had any dreams about him
or heard his voice
but I know his presence
in every word he wrote

and I will collect them
and reread them
by the light of the full Blood Moon
turned red by a total eclipse