A Contrapuntal Poem

I woke up to an aggressive moon

Selene has a message for me that I cannot figure out, yet

I want to tuck myself into her crescent

She does not give consent.

I stay down on Earth as the rain pounds into my curls, curves, pours, clothes, post-season snow boots

I trudge through the snirt of the concrete jungle (Micro Panku)

Not on the prowl,

eager to stop hydrating

Given, I feel overly saturated

As I pounce to my second to last destination (Micro Panku)

I realize I am not soaked in natural liquids (Micro Panku)

The sky opened and whined out blush

Scared to look up as I fear the sting of the unnatural nectars

Seeds of rosé pelt at me with tenacity

Selene stomps in her bat

What lesson has she been teaching me?

There will always be never-ending ones to grasp through her grapes

She paints with brushes so fine, my anxiety refuses to figure out her path

I cannot follow her constellations through sourness

One water-logged shoe in the front of the other and I arrive…

But, she keeps me locked out

I peer through the exhausted wet tree branches of my neighborhood and finally see past sparse clouds & her eyes, the answer to my current equation…

Chivalry.

Not, for her, nor the ancestors, or the souls who have their own assignments to complete….

For me

I must honor myself

If not,

I will continue to shrivel up like a raisin (Micro Panku)

Who no one can stomach.

© E.S. Strauss March 20, 2024