poem

Half Moon II, variation

I have a tendency to ignore

The caution yellow glow of half moon,

Instinctively peering around the corner of the arc

To see the cratered dark side gloom.

I see the whole even when the half is enough.

All the things you want to hide:

The wrinkles, the pimples,

The broccoli caught in your teeth,

The lint in your ears,

The flecks of flour in your hair,

The scars and asymmetric dents,

The weight of years that drags at flesh,

The weaknesses, the soft spots,

The moles, the blemishes,

Deep rueful regrets etched 

Into a face that once 

Had a chance to say yes,

The quirks and carelessnesses,

All the elisions and evasions.

I know I am strange but not unique.

There are others like me,

Overly critical and sometimes mean

Who quickly mark the unmentionable,

The not quite concealable things.

So I stash the few things I like

About myself over there in the

Gloaming of my moon’s vaults.

I’m hoping some freak, someone like me,

Might stumble upon them

When they’re rooting around in the night,

Trespassing, invading my privacy,

Sifting through all my faults. 

.

I want to surprise her when it happens.

I want her to be the one

Who brings them into the light.

4/20/21