Ode to the New Moon; Ode to You

I have been carrying the sun on my back for seventeen years,

and not once has anybody offered to help,

to package the fragments and bandage the bits where the light has been cracked through.

Not once has anybody told me

they wanted to wear the same sun on their shirtsleeve

or pinned to their collarbone,

a corsage. a knit patch.

I don’t know how to write a love poem,

but I would cut a triangle slice out of my sun if it meant you would keep calling me by name.

I would shave off just enough to top Sunday morning breakfast.

I would mix it into acrylic and paint a mural in venice beach.

I would tattoo it onto your cheek so I can trace over it

and over it

and over it,

and balance it on the tip of my finger. A fragile glass. The thinnest ice.

I don’t know how to write a love poem,

but I swear the moon warns me of your tsunamis.

And I swear, it’s the ocean song on repeat

until I know your waves are done crashing.

We storm cloud when the sailboat has forgotten its compass,

and I too cannot remember where the north star is through the fog.

But I promise I will play pretend captain.

Show me your calm so I can etch it onto every wall in this house.

I will unwrap the wind from your neck and let it wash out to sea.

Let me hold your bated breath in the palm of my hands. A fragile glass. The thinnest ice.

I don’t know how to write a love poem,

but I could feed your name to the songbirds

so they could recite the poetry for us.

We’ll beat staccato between our lungs.

We’ll let the melody echo in the back of our throats.

We’ll crescendo until lipstick melts.

Until I can steal the honey from the tip of your tongue.

The orchestra is ours.

The sound of the symbols only once, to break the fragile glass. The thinnest ice.

I don’t know how to write a love poem.

Honest to god, I still don’t.

I’m scared of getting lost at sea.

Of forgetting the notes.

I’m scared of stepping on glass. Of falling through ice.

But there’s not a doubt in my mind

that the new moon watches us fondly

as we carry the sun

together.