Lebensmagnetismus

The Moon’s Magnetic Field Once Came from an Asteroid:

When you walked in

it was like recognizing

 

the moon when he returns.

His lover bites his cheek; she

 

has no choice. All we see

is the dissolution, then await

 

the reconstruction.

Each time, the sky

 

yanks her into his orbit.

I want to say I’m sorry.

 

I want to say

You win. Our bodies are like

 

the confessional booth these

poems are stuck in. Even

 

the priest can see that sin.

You’ll be all spit and honey—

 

or maybe I’m the poisoned

flower gnawing on its own

 

lip because it has no hands

to reach for you. Only words

 

that are as useless as the pollen

for saying anything. I continue

 

to serve them even with your hands

around my throat from across

 

the room. Your voice is home,

I answer it like a bat guided

 

across the atmosphere. This

is a narrative that cannot end

 

well but wants to, but must.

I’ll continue to go down kicking

 

and you’ll be sweet as anything

until you bite back. No, it can’t

 

end here—we won’t let it.

Billions of years have passed

 

since an asteroid last hit

the moon: clearly some

 

magnetic fields can be sustained.

Rebecca Morgan Frank.