ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE MOON LANDING:
Hot July day with
Our first color TV
Tuned to the moon
Wow! The moon!
Humans landing on the moon!
Walking on the moon!
The moon and I have a history
No matter her phase
She is my comfort and my light
Even when dark
I did not feel she was being violated
As Neil Armstrong bounced along her
Silent craters
Even when the flag penetrated
Her virgin soil.
Just 21 and legal
Able to vote and buy wine
Married a few months
Lying on the floor
Bottle of Mateuse Rose
Box of water colors as
Face painting dripped
Below the neck
Dribbling between breasts
Painted with red roses
Continuing past the navel’s crater of skin
Down, down, Dave Van Ronk singing
“Baby let me follow you down…”
Marriage so beautiful in its youth
Like a space program that showed so much promise…
© 2014 Clarissa Simmens (ViataMaja)
Poetry of Memory: Six Decades From the Space-Time Continuum
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