Dec.10~ SANDRA BETH LEVY

Poetry lovers, I'm ecstatic to bring you three introspective poems by Sandra Beth Levy! Today, we're shining the spotlight on:  Harvest Moon, Renewal Wish, and (my favorite of the three) Write Me Unforgotten. Please enjoy! And, thank you, Sandra Beth, for sharing your words with the SHINE international poetry community!

Harvest Moon

was a glowing circle of honey
rising slowly over Narragansett Bay.
I made sure not to miss its regal eyes
glance upon my silhouette
but wrestled for hours with a ghost
feeling pasty, sunken, silenced
by a haunted past.

My father died fifty years ago
the night of Harvest Moon.
There were no more chances
to reach him with my childhood
love I preserved in the candy jar
of my heart, no more chances
to experience redemption
of his crimes.
He became a moon
stitched in my chest
too large for my ribcage
crushing me with tragedy -

I climb a steep ladder
in the night sky
reach for sweet honey
from Harvest Moon, taste it
on my tongue mixed with ginger
inhale its seductive aroma.
If I lick this golden liquid
suck it down my throat to my gut
raw and weeping
will I reach the moon’s dark side
to touch my father’s face,
be renewed with gratitude?

Renewal Wish

I wish to be a lullaby, to rest
my gentle tune upon a cushion
soothe a throat on fire
cradle a child within
bake a cake from my womb
sing celebration songs
in a cathedral of loving trees
populated by people frosted
in sweetness.

If I wander into my silhouette
will I return to darkness
or to a rising sun?
Will return offer renewal
of silken skin
or accounting of my sins?

I might see myself as shadow
in glowing water
or dive beneath indigo waves
of time. Should my love triumph
over shattered dreams for humanity
will my tattered tissues
tied together with beads
of sweat sparkle like jewels
or crimson eyes of wisdom?
Will I then be closer to God?

Might my mouth become a fountain
my legs stalks of birch
that reforest a land beyond doubt?
If I keep writing myself into existence
will I live forever
or will veins infused with venom
destroy my chance for renewal?

Write Me Unforgotten

Remember me
as forest green summer light
turned radiant orange
while rain drenched leaves dangle

in the deluge of my spirit
desperate and delicious
cacophonous catastrophes 

my sculpted tissued skin waving -
a windblown witness of time.

Yes, I still want to be elegant,
youthful, a bare shouldered beauty
who beckons our world
to drop to its knees

but as night approaches I wish
the forest air to cool and calm me
carve my legacy into trees

write me unforgotten

cast moon beams between branches
illuminate each syllable
of my story. Remind me

to write myself into existence
so I will be read by morning light
mourning only the passage of seasons.

Sandra Beth Levy is a retired psychologist who passionately practiced the healing art of psychotherapy for over forty years and is now pursuing her dream of immersion in creative writing and spoken word performance. She raised two biracial poet sons while honoring her Jewish-feminist identities. Her unique social and personal histories weave their way through her writing as she explores intricacies of love, loss, aging, the power of relationships as transformative agents, and her awe of nature. She has won local poetry slams and published poems in four collections with Anomaly Poetry, multiple anthologies with Small Gems Press, Roots and Ruins anthology with Arcana Poetry Press, and the September 2025 issue of A Curious Moon. Her first poetry collection, Unfurling The Scroll Of Seven Decades, is in preparation for release in 2026.

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