I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that the moon
had the ocean
steal pebbles
from the shore<\/p>\n\n\n\n
to wish
that one day
one of them
rippled her reflection
upon your stifling expanse
into starlings dancing<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and that she wrote you poems<\/p>\n\n\n\n
about jupiterian storms<\/p>\n\n\n\n
comets chasing their own tails<\/p>\n\n\n\n
asteroids that sail on solar tides<\/p>\n\n\n\n
nebulae breastfeeding stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and the daughters of io
forever at war
with those damned sons of mars<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and that you wrote her back<\/p>\n\n\n\n
about warm lullabies
sung by the south wall
on a summer’s eve<\/p>\n\n\n\n
women in sundresses
with puffy little sleeves
sat with their legs crossed
on the backs of hand me down bicycles<\/p>\n\n\n\n
stories that rainfall tells in braille
upon the street lit passenger window
of an old friends car
shooting you home at midnight<\/p>\n\n\n\n
feeling your veins
translate opiates
into bouts of falling and of flight<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the smell of butter bubbling
in cast iron pans
spewing smoke until the room is blue<\/p>\n\n\n\n
mother’s humming
when leaves fall golden
in black dirt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and the shaking hands of a trepid lover
snaking underneath
your ex boyfriend’s favorite shirt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor
that you wounded the moon
and that she liked the way it hurt<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor
that in the depths of this black blissfulness
you were just as much marooned<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor
that though no light has ever found you here
that you still shine back at her<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor
that when you go to sleep at night
you’re no longer present
on this lonely but good earth<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
that you left this merry life
with nothing more for us
to remember you by
than some drawings and some words<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I heard a rumor<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but gossip
is a language
that overestimates its worth<\/p>\n\n\n\n
so if you’re really gone my dear<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I suppose I’ll send these poems
to that shining sphere
that burning mirror in the sky<\/p>\n\n\n\n
until all of darkness burns
for you my love
with a thousand new goodbyes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope to see you sooner than you’d like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n