Summer of the Moon Landing - Phyllis Meshulam

[Larry Robinson]

Summer of the Moon Landing 
			for Ina and Kiku

A hundred of us dancing
at the good buddies’ ball,
but after lights-out, and
at the first irritation,
one is alone again… 

	– Jacques Brel

moon light
i arrived at age twenty          despite so many stuttered repetitions    of carbon paper self 
a whole summer   		  turning over a fresh leaf  		  of butcher paper  
a new-to-me metropolis    ocean and city splashing    against each other   	
colored shipping containers    stacked in a rubik’s cube        rearranging the world    

three little maids from school    braided together    like the French braiding    
of each other’s hair

half full
arches flattened    hiking in flats    the elevator shaft hills    walking for work 
we could walk to    mattresses on the basement floor    kosher wine like bruised pears    
peanut butter rationed    onto co-op bread    nori slap in the face at ocean’s edge 

moon dark
a pending lottery  	  boys our age under glass    the chance to enact    their own 
underage death scenes   	hearts stretched around    my skeleton made of glass 
  humans landed on the moon   		  we watched through soot and ice    
grown men hopscotching    planting a flag   	  ina said    isn’t that just like    
our country    		go someplace new    unspoiled    immediately litter?

moon with her tiny new    flag tattoo            a blank-faced marble bust of earth 
 	             a round powdered loaf    	companions sharing this bread 

half empty
summer friendships    like parenthetical expressions    easily deleted  		  
come august (come, the rest of my life)    kiku stayed    ina and i    
and two flash-frozen salmon    flew as far as chicago   meaning to take one fish apiece    
but they had frozen    inseparable    

twangs of woodstock    radiating from the radio    me stuffing my stuff    
into semester-abroad-suitcase

decades later    a yellow alley light    another summer night    metal staircase still volcanic    
on our warming globe   the same moon glides    stutters through 	her phases 


encircled again    breaking  bread again    alone again    broken again

	- Phyllis Meshulam
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.sonic.net/pipermail/poetrylovers/attachments/20190718/dc07cefc/attachment.html>