Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon, by Kathryn Moll

Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon, by unidentified court artist (Austria) 1440-50

Virgin and Child on the Crescent Moon

I too
 
have wished to pluck the inverted pear, out 
from the pouch of my belly
 
tuck away its trembling pips
 
deal them into the slack of anonymous 
passing pockets
 
with the guile of a thief
 
the insouciant nope
of your adolescent slouch
 
Too late
 
Already one course has bloomed 
from the other, husky and cross-eyed
 
a boy baby 
confounded by the magic trick
 
The miracle 
draws wonder from a million invisible hands
 
still, dancing shoes 
toe our hems, begging 
 
to reel—back into the night 
 
the stars we smuggled 
in starched blue robes

Kathryn Moll

Kathryn Moll is an architect and California native.  Her text-based drawings—collaborative works created under the name modem—have been shown at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, and the Cooper Union in New York City.  She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts.