bright club

(the last poem of 2009)

it took me almost a year
but i've finally got them all
for the better part of eleven months
i've spent all my evenings in space
just me and my trusty butterfly net
one by one i gathered each and every star
the shooting ones were the hardest to catch
they're not fond of stillness you know
one might even suggest
that they're a bit on the temperamental side
but you didn't hear that from me
i've spent many mornings patching holes in my duffel
because of all of their fussing about
but i've got every last one of them now
tonight, the entire world will look in wonder
at a sky that's only barely lit by the moon
i'd have taken her too, but there just wasn't room
when the blackness blankets us this evening
i'll take my sorry looking duffel bag from the closet
and gently place it down on the centre of my bed
i'll board up the window and remove the light bulb from the fixture
at the stoke of midnight, with a new decade upon us
i will unzipper my restless little friends
and watch as a gazillion brilliant stars fill my bedroom
don't worry - i'll put them all back
eventually