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 Dec 2021 Koggeki
am i ee
Far, far, away

On a star
light years away,

A little piece waited
for two lovers to meet,

embraced in sweet divine emotion,
the little star piece
set itself free.

Racing to earth across the sky,
lighting a trail as it streaked by.

Landing alight in the midst of this love
its life on this planet,
this planet earth,
stirred.

Never suspecting  that when it broke free,
that it might never find its way back,
back to its home,
back to the rest of its star.

Great velvety black heavens disappearing
with great speed,

By some human need
to be surrounded by light ,
every day,
and all through the night.

Lost in the heavens
when its time
was done.                                  

This little star piece floated free,
floating forever.

For it couldn’t see its star,
it couldn’t find it in the night.

Couldn’t find it,
for all the artificial bright light.

It couldn’t find its home,
so it was destined to roam,

Across the great sky,
All day,
every day.  

And

All night,
every night.
(Many thanks to Mary Adams and her wonderful presentation The Stargazer as a Storyteller, at the IDA 2021 Global Conference for inspiring this poem and sharing her gift of teaching about some of the great human stories.)

International Dark Sky Association. www.darksky.org
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BYOMk55OFBQ
 Dec 2021 Koggeki
am i ee
Love in the time of LEDs



“Honey, I’m just not feeling it”.
She said this to me, constantly.

“The moon and the stars and the planets
sing to me, an orchestra of nature and
eternal time intertwined.”

“Mother nature directing this divine symphony.”

“These new lights just don’t do it for me.”

We traveled here and traveled there,
over many a year.

Then one night ,
One full harvest moon night,

High on a cliff,
Deep in the night,
Silent and still and cold,

She shed every stitch that covered her frame
And opened her arms to the celestial rain.

Rays from heaven pouring down,  
illuminating her shape,
saturating Earth’s lovely ground.

Dancing about,
With not a trace of restraint,

The moon and stars and the night
Sang to her soul,
Sang to every fiber of her being,
Sang to her every bone.

‘You see, Mother Nature knows the cycles that feed the soul.’ she whispered to me, in her soft and sultry voice.

Watching, transfixed, drawn into the dance,
surrounded by stars twinkling,
Milky Way flowing,

Waking from this trance,
I tapped out a message,
read it aloud,

I QUIT!

I quit selling LEDs and the bright artificial lights.
I quit this nightmare of a job!
I quit this life of a thief,
this one of stealing the stars!
I quit this very night!

I threw my smart phone over the cliff,
each article of clothing removed,
following quick.          

I stood bare under the moon,
Bare under the stars,
Bare under the planets
And  bare to Mars.

Well?  I asked hesitantly,
hope having dimmed for so many a year.

‘We’ll see.’ she replied to me

A tiny smile appearing upon her lips,
A small promising twinkle coming to her eye,

For the first time in all these many years.


For the first time my heart leapt,
beating with this hint of hope,
beating with joy,

under this majestic,
star studded,
inky black,
huge moon filled,
cold,
silent,
magical,
night sky!
 Dec 2021 Koggeki
am i ee
Feline Love in the time of LEDs


“Honey, I’m just not feeling it”.
I said this silently to her, constantly.

“The moon and the stars and the planets
sing to me, an orchestra of nature and
eternal time intertwined.”

“Mother nature directing this divine symphony.”

“These new lights just don’t do it for me.”

Finally she noticed,
the great change in my mood,
feeling something amiss,
something terribly, terribly amiss.

She packed us up,
and into the caravan we went.

Rustic canvas over our heads,
wood burning stove next to our bed.

Ah, finally the life of traveling the paths,
living by the light of the fire,
the gentle descending of the night.

Tuned into mother nature’s time,
soft, peaceful and divine.

We traveled here and traveled there,
over many a year.

Then one night ,
One full harvest moon night,

High on a cliff,
Deep in the night,
Silent and still and cold,

She shed every stitch that covered her frame
And opened her arms to the celestial rain.

Rays from heaven pouring down,  
illuminating her shape,
saturating Earth’s lovely ground.

Dancing about,
surrounded by stars twinkling,
Milky Way flowing,
With not a trace of restraint,

The moon and stars and the night
sang to her soul,
sang to every fiber of her being,
sang to her every bone.

‘You see, Mother Nature knows the cycles that feed the soul.’ I  whispered to her,
in my softly purring voice.

‘This is what I have been trying to tell you for all these years.’

Waking from this trance,
She tapped out a message,
read it aloud,

I QUIT!

I quit designing LEDs and the bright artificial lights
that destroy the glorious night.

I quit this nightmare of a job!
I quit this life of a thief,
this one of stealing the stars!
I quit this very night!

That is,
unless I’m allowed to design the
smart dark-sky friendly lights
that I so love now,
that bring such subtle delight.


She threw her smart phone over the cliff,
this device hurtling down so quick,  
shaking the very earth with each bounce to the ground.

As she stood bare under the moon,
Bare under the stars,
Bare under the planets
And bare to Mars.

For the first time in so many a year,
I jumped up sinuously,
right up,
straight into her arms.

Startled,
she laughed with such joy,
hugging me close,
so close and so near.

My lovely silky fur,
warming her frame,
warming her heart.

Snuggled so close
and snuggled so tight,

I purred once again
out loud on this night,
in absolute delight.

The ground rumbled beneath
the two of us,

shaking and quaking
the earth so near.

The stars up above
twinkled with joy,
at this sight of loving tight.

Dancing overhead,
streaking through across the sky,
celebrating on this night,

one more little human
remembering again,
the magic and mystery,
of the black sparkling night,
spreading out forever above.

We danced together under the
rejoicing stars,
holding each other tight.

My sweet, now smart,
little human
and me.


~ the Feline
Be a raging storm when you must.
Just don't get carried away.
 Aug 2021 Koggeki
N N Johnson
I feel like screaming and
I feel like doing nothing,
always teaming with
this imbalance,
not quenching either thirst.
By holding my tongue
and quieting my voice,
and interrupting my attempt
to do nothing by worrying,
worrying, and then that nothing becomes
something, it becomes wasted
energy, anxiety gone rotten,
a fruitless activity, producing
neither rest nor product,
my motivation to freeze
and stiffen and wait and
recede overpowers even the
fear of my own judgement,
who loves to blare loudly
that I'm lazy, that I'm
not enough, this stuff
i do is meaningless,
and I need to prove my
worthiness by being
exceptional in all ways, not
only all ways, but always,
not just sometimes,
and god stop complaining,
about the hurt and the pain,
it's so boring, it's so
standard, it's so privileged,
it's so bland, and
the more I do it the less
value I hold, i'm told
by my own self,
every poem that i write
that pleads for sympathy
and reaches out for connection
is just another title to add
to my collection of pathetic
writings, proving my biting
nails and troubled mind
do not an artist make,
but that it takes much more
talent and brain and effort
and refrain for this to
be any more than words
that fall to the floor to
be stepped on forever more.
 Jul 2021 Koggeki
N N Johnson
clover honey hair
iris pools of sea spray

soft moon skin
sunrise hands

bittersweet smile
faerie laugh

Andromeda shines
behind black pupils

a glance covers me
with morning dew

neck of dusk
and back of noon

silk chocolate fingers
red wine wrists

almond eyes closed
by snowflake lashes

a heart of sunset
and soul of crashing waves
 Jun 2021 Koggeki
N N Johnson
I miss you,
meaning,
I romantically picture
our finest moments
of conversation--
we laughed together,
you embraced me,
I swear I saw
your eyes sparkle
as they looked at mine,
and I get the feeling
you like me,
which almost makes
me like me.
so when I say
'I miss you,'
I think I mean
I miss liking me.
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