night lights - frances boyle

“Night Lights” was previously published in the 2019 collection This White Nest (Quattro Books)

At a rented cottage, my two-year-old 

dreamily wondered “What are those shiny 

things in the sky?”  

But she’d always known the moon, 

always pointed her arrow arm, 

called out that silvery name;

that fat celebrity moon, 

vaguely flattered by earthly 

adulation while feigning boredom

Under street-lamp globes, my shadow stretches 

and lengthens, then snaps small as I move

from one yellow pool of light to another.

Frances Boyle (she/her) is a Canadian writer who lives in Ottawa. She is the author of three poetry collections, a novella and an award-winning short story collection. Recent and forthcoming publications include The Fiddlehead, The New Quarterly, Dreich, Thimble Lit and Consilience.