When 'blue'?

Cherry

By Rhiannonw

Fri, 26 Jan 2018
  • 2394 reads
10 comments
 

The moon goes through each phase
in approximately twenty-nine days,
but the months of our year
are a bit out of gear
so sometimes two full moons appear
in a calendar month,
(one at the start
and one at the end –
still four weeks apart),
which caused some confusion
for festival dates,
and the extra full moon was called a
‘betrayer’(belewe) moon,
which name seems to have morphed to ‘blue’
– so
‘once in a blue moon’
(every two or three years usually)
there is a ‘blue’ moon,
though this year full moon
at the end of January,
followed by short February,
means two may also be seen in March,
– though they are white,
not blue,
unless
the sight
gets a hue
from atmospheric dust.

[IP: once in a blue moon]

Certificate U
Poem
Miscellaneous
Inspiration Point (work that responds to our weekly writing cue)

Comments

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I really loved this Rhiannon,

it flowed perfectly and was a great I P.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you Jenny. I hoped I'd got it all sorted out properly in the end! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thank you for the cherries – bit of a surprise on this one! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Denzella on

Hello Rhiannonw,

How do you do it?  I'm amazed not only by the poem but also how you have worked it all out.  A really clever IP and a very enjoyable read.

Moya x 

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Hello, Moya. Thank you. This was just the result of me trying to get my head around it all, and have a bit of fun trying to make it into fun verse! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

Two moons in March too! I love blue moons! The end of Jan moon has been described as a blood supermoon. Let's hope we get a cloudless night. Great poem.

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Elsie. Is it this 'double phenomena' or moons tinted blue you love?! My understanding is that we won't see the eclipse and the redness in this country, but if so, there'sll be plenty of pictures around I expect on the internet. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Di_Hard on

I'm so glad I read this. I went on Wikipedia to look up the betrayer bit and am gobsmacked how you made it all sound so simple, I couldn't make head or tail of it! But I went on from there to old English names for months and found that February is the "mud month" and March the "month for wildness" (which reminded me of your Englynn) May is the month of three milkings, I guess because of the rich grass and August the month of plants. I would never have read all that without your wonderful poem

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Glad to learn it led you on to that reading! I'm so aware that those who know so much about these things well, don't always find it easy to communicate them simply and in condensed form, but that in aiming to do just that, it is so easy to make a mistake if it is not one's own speciality! So glad you found you felt I'd got it right! Thank you! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Ray Schaufeld on

The extra moon in the calendar month. That to me is the 'blue moon'. Like all colours of moon.smiley