Man went to the moon
Never asked what she wanted
Man drove his rocket straight into the Moon
She turned her face away
And let it happen
Because it was simpler
He didn’t make it easy
He did a victory dance
Bounding like a child,
Like an ape howling into a vacuum
And he left
Flag planted
The flag is still there
He hasn’t been back
We don’t assign gender to objects in English
But we all know
A fork is male
A spoon is female
A hammer is male
A clamp is female
A whip is a brute
A ship is a lady
An umbrella’s a girl in an umbrella skirt
The moon is a woman
The shadows that crawl across her face
Smudged eyeliner
Unfathomable ranges in darkness descending
In sienna black weeping
Round cheek cool untouchable
Distant, distant, distant and beautiful
250,000 miles beautiful
Impossible
Bereft and unreachable
I’m sorry
I’m sorry
I’m so sorry baby
I’ll come back
It’s one day’s ride
It’s one thousand days’ ride
From Philadelphia
I’ve got money for gas
Or I’ll bring you to me
And make the tides change in our union
Fish flying upward
The Earth caving in
At the shift and the whisper of our love
Which never was and ever shall be
Or I’ll get drunk
And I’ll hop another rocket
Straddle it like a cowboy
Ride straight into you
Again
Again
I wasn’t careful enough
I’m sorry
Let me just look at you
Let me just
Don’t cry
Be still
You look so pretty in your own light
