I only prayed to the moon after it rose beyond
my window, the white sill a frame for waning
crescents and gibbouses--milk-drowned gods
dripping stars as they climbed skeleton branches--
some nights resting behind flood-heavy clouds.
People say the moon has a face, but
I have yet to see it sneer at my sins even as it tastes
my ocean-drop tears, evaporated into sky-bound veils,
brushed along the shadowed craters ...

The moon itself bemoaned imperfections in midnight
wind creaking branch against branch until I woke
slow from sleep--sad light staining my walls
pallid, pale as my own skin, glowing in muted
television shows left running while I dreamt
the moon spilled a star between my ribs--
dim luminescence radiating warm,
and the star, seeping through my pores, thawed
the ice I had prayed to melt in the first place.

Some part of you is like the moon
softly glowing beside me on my too-small bed,
and the monumental loneliness you wear as a halo
must be a trick of the eye despite keeping me awake,
hunched over a folder of unedited poems at 2:45AM.
I wonder what the moon dreams of when the sun
tucks it into bed at dawn as your eyelids flutter
and your breathing hitches for a moment
before you roll over, face the wall,
parting clouds with a small sigh.

I think I'm crazy.
The space by me is *spinning,
and I'm seeing stars.

© Matthew Harlovic

The aloofness of the moon in the effervescent night
In between the clouds teasing the sight
As the lavish words of the owls permeates the air
Summoning the wolves to howl in despair
Unable to muffle the loquacious toads by the lake
While the fluid branches of the trees dance to the nocturnes of the wind
How they cradled the woods to sleep
Still there is a flurried silence
Inexplicable gloom
Emitted by the bright moon
Spreading like wild fire in the meadows
Creating eerie shadows through the glass windows
The lake glittered as if the stars have fallen in the waters
She dipped her nakedness in the aching cold
Emotionless
Her face illuminated by the reflection in the silver waters
She submerge her breath to fill her lungs
She never felt as light, numb and hollow
The moon signed as witness
To the blooming flowers that midnight
Ever hungry for the moonlight
Like her convulsing consciousness desperate for salvation
And to the corpse of the maiden afloat in the lake
The unapologetic moon stood to watch
The beautiful soul as it slowly swells
Along with melancholia
Writhing across the serene lake



-Melancholia, Margaret Austin Go

ya estás brillando,
casi como un sol
pero todavía más fuerte,
en esta completa oscuridad

Orion se encuentra cerca de ti
esta noche, unas estrellas
la acompañan,
debajo de ti

te ponen en el último peldaño
en la parte superior
de la escalera,
tu escalera, que quiero subir

pero solo puedo aspirar y espirar
lo que sería visible?
mi cálido aliento,
en este aire frío, de un invierno eterno

That one instant
When I made you blush with my words
When I got you nervous with my look
That one sweet hug in the street
That one tender peck in my cheek

That should be enough to fill all my longing
Enough to fill many lifetimes with joy
But my greedy heart is never satisfied
Can never have enough of you
And wants to extend those instants for ever
So those memories and delusions of what could have been haunt me
And afflict this hungry heart
Because all it wants is you