“Women sync up with the moon,

like the sea does,

and it makes them unpredictable.”

he said.

(Surely not –

the sea and the moon are as predictable as you like!

you can chart them with maps!)

“Ah, but how about tsunami’s

that come along from nowhere

and drown the innocent?”

(Tsunamis aren’t caused by the moon,

they’re a result of the earth crashing into itself

and we are the earth,

us men,

and we drown the innocent.)

Every time I look at the moon -

(and I look at it often because I’m that kind of boy),

I can’t help but think of every woman in the world,

of every class and ever colour,

who has looked up at it too.

Cleopatra,

Kate Moss,

Katherine Hepburn,

Workhouse women with broken nails,

Baudelaire’s pale thin girls,

Courtney Love,

Female football players,

And how they feel

(or felt)

just as separate

or as close to it

As I do.