We are privileged to welcome Luke Jerram’s ‘Museum of the Moon’ to Peel Cathedral this month, and it is the inspiration and theme for some poetry events on February 22 that I have been involved in the organisation of.

This includes writing workshops, both for beginner and more experienced writers, along with an open mic night, all held in the Cathedral.

So, I have been going a bit loony for the lunar lately and wanted to share my thoughts.

For as long as humanity has gazed skyward, the moon has been more than just a celestial body - it has been a mirror for our dreams, fears, and mysteries.

It glows in quiet defiance against the vast darkness, a cosmic sentinel that watches over us, influencing our tides, our myths, and even our moods.

But what is it about the moon that so effortlessly captivates us? Is it its eerie stillness, an ever-present eye that neither judges nor turns away? Or is it its quiet partnership with the Earth, a gravitational waltz that holds our world in balance?

The moon does not boast like the sun, nor does it burn - it merely reflects, content in its borrowed light.

Throughout history, we have woven stories around its phases, shaping it into a goddess, a trickster, a harbinger of change.

Poets have written odes, lovers have sworn devotion beneath its glow, and scientists have walked its surface only to leave footprints in the dust of eternity.

And yet, for all we have learned, the moon remains an enigma, a presence that feels at once familiar and unfathomable.

That is its true magic - it is both near and impossibly far, ancient yet constant, silent but never unnoticed. A paradox hanging in the sky, forever pulling at us, daring us to look up and wonder.

ode to the moon

the idea that it’s solely wolves that bow to you

is misinformation, a statement wholly untrue

for it is all on this earth, in the lands green and ocean blue

the grapes on the vine, the swell of the tides too

you cast your sweet, soft spell

sultry, shining orb of satiny alabaster

all pray under your light; sinners, soldiers, pastors

prayers for dreams to be realised, prayers to survive disaster

you are obliged to answer none, you have no master

you cast your sweet, soft spell

glowing goddess, I watch your nightly ascent

you see us celebrate, cry, dream, lament

new, full, quarter, gibbous, crescent

omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent

you cast your sweet, soft spell