Lunar Occultation

by Diane LeBlanc


At the moment you step outside
            to watch the full moon eclipse Mars,

four deer will leap from the neighbor’s field 
            and step their way across the frozen pond, 

listening and sniffing, testing the ice, 
            turning briefly to note the cloud of breath 

above you, the distance between you, as
            one body disappears behind another.


* * * * *

Diane LeBlanc is a writer, teacher, and book artist with roots in Vermont, Wyoming, and Minnesota. She is the author of The Feast Delayed (Terrapin Books, 2021) and four poetry chapbooks. Poems and essays appear in Bellevue Literary Review, Cimarron Review, Mid-American Review, and Southern Humanities Review, among others. Diane is a holistic life coach with emphasis in creativity practice. She is a professor and writer in residence at St. Olaf College. Read more at www.dianeleblancwriter.com.