the night sky needs a mirror &
the sun cracks herself in a cast iron pan--
they paint hunger into dawn

she told me the sun & the moon
are lovers-- only they're both girls--
they laugh at men's feet
bound to grass &
stones--
and we all knew the night sky 
was our goddess--
only we mistook our savior in a sun--
she's not your lion mane--
she doesn't want your gold to
dress a sun-ray-- she's her to warm
the morning-- kiss the forehead of
the moon as she rises--
she laughs in the splash of
cracked egg-- yolks in fingers-- the flame
to eat the pot of oil--
sun taught the water 
itself that it could breath 
and at night she whispered across 
the earth for her lover 
to un-clip nebulas from her hair--
tossed down into a ocean chasm to light
the bodies of jelly fish--
paint lakes in her own hips--
this water color is blood bled
into a sunrise--sunset 
she the sun loved the moon
enough to become her-- the heat
on her face that puts the water
into a trance--  
the ocean is her own 
sky she built to own a mirror--
it's how she reminds herself that she
is as real and as eternal as everyone
says she is--
she some days feels like the exhale
of an ocean vent-- the decrescendo of
a whale carcass to the deep--
rest in then mouth another echinoderm 
it's taxing to wear the moon
as a mask-- listen to humans 
misjudge her for the stones--
this man in the moon has
always been a woman--
together in tandem sun & moon
craft each other bangles to endow 
around the waist of the equator--
preen each day like a skillet--
mirrored reflects in silhouetted in the sea
at dawn when their mouths are full
only of yearning--
this is how you learn not to touch--
she remember's the sun hands
like the hot grip of a cast iron pan--
she tastes morning hungry
wishes to hold the sun like
the soft belly of a crepe-- 
the moon lives as an empty plate--
a hollow mouth spoon
gaping for a drop of horizon--
she tastes sun only in that reflect--
that burst on the water--
the waves distorting her image
in a juggle of beams--
the coral gnaws at her face
and the moon weeps tired--
lets go of waves--
sun rages into morning
oh why oh why do we wear 
these masks so they believe us
and the moon forget she
was meant to be silent-- and
the sun always breaks her
promises and sometimes doesn't
kiss the water--
and the moon tells herself
at least she has the ocean--
the bowls of her own bones
where she can save her favorite
drops of stars--
this is where the moon keeps her
body secret from the sun--
digs deeper in her own thighs
to hid more stars-- more kisses 
she grasped on the cusp of Capricorn--
i love you more
i love you more
i love you more
she says and the man tied
to grass & stones
is afraid-- wonders why
the moon chooses burns 
from laying face up in cast iron 
pan-- 
wonder how the sun could
love
a thing so hollow she needs a mirror.