Mary Beth sits on the roof waiting to catch the moon

Swearing at the amber evening sun because it burns her eyes

While tapping her padded feet on the roof like one hundred mice

 

Artie Mill stands where the grass screams between his toes

And the dumb mud gets a headache from wanting to touch the sky

Where Artie’s head lingers receiving billets-doux from the sun

 

Her garb gets tugged by the mischievous wind

Pulling the green bow from her head falling to float on the sea

Where she tosses her shoelaces watching them drift from one another

 

Roughly handling the earth he falls on his keister

The maternal ground caresses his scratched palms

As worms go up and over each of his fingers

 

On the roof infected shillings roll over her wide thighs so down

Down Mary plummets into the sea

And her velvet fingers roll out for miles joining underwater fanfare

 

Rotten berries travel upon Artie’s shoulder

Then climb high and sidle past his cheek

Sickening his tongue and leaving his skin a molten color of red and blue

 

Cracking away from water her belly is the summit

For fishes who treat girls as hula hoops

As ebbs of water follow the ridges of her ears

 

And his hot lips holler precious secrets

Causing the earth’s mantle to sing of the fire

That brought it into existence

 

A chunk of land collects her head from the sea

And when the water falls from her she listens to the secrets

Of the planetary crust tempered by the fervor from his lips

 

A puddle collects his toes and he peers around

Finding a sea quivering with the weight of her in it

He tingles from the air spinning on his flesh

 

And they look and wonder then wander away

From superficiality into banality and in the end clarity

Sharing millenias of know how with simplicities like a nose-crinkle or a wink

And the Sun disappears but the Moon does not surface

So the yellow sky dies and its’ rose blood dilutes the sky

“Hello” “Hi”

 

The Owl and the Tanager bicker past the sun and cry behind the moon

But when it sets they will sit together on the highest twig in the world

And the Owl will surrender to the Tanager

 

Who is who?