Sister Moon

 Thanks to The Wild Word for publishing my poem: Sister Moon on their wonderful site: 

Sister Moon

Born under the sign of the moon,
my face as pocked-marked,
as splotched and undefinable
In junior high school when
it mattered
I wanted to wear the veil
of the penitent

My sister, the actual moon,
is the pretty one
her pitted skin character-filled
mysterious
holding secrets
men can’t wait to breach

Mine just a red boiling mess
Boys take one look and don’t even
try to cover their snot-filled
snickers in the hallways,
nudging each other
and their smooth skinned
cheerleader girlfriends

No one ever says “pizza face”
But I heard their thoughts
on the celestial channel
My compensation for
not knowing the call letters
of the earthly frequency

My mother’s soothing words
and foul-smelling potions
can’t hide the truth
Ugly sister
Plain sister

But the moon and I commune
at night under the covers
the way sisters do
soothe each other, she worries
about disappearing every month,
fading away, what if she never returns?

We plot our escape together
the moon and I
When it is her time to hide and mine
to stay behind, tonight,
we will fly away,
past Saturn’s blingy rings
Jupiter’s big red lip
brighter than a thousand suns
swinging round the universe
streaming to pierce the veil
of Creation

our two halves
whole
and luminous
as a nebula.