When the Moonstruck Speak by Nicole Yackley

When the Moonstruck Speak

He turns toward light
and suddenly moon is sleeping in his mouth
as if in a cave at night
somewhere warm and south.
He is the cave voice
and I just an echo,
the water lapping, the wind shouting to be close:
all speaking, but none managing to glow.

I, too, had a cave mouth once
hidden depths of bouncing sound, brought down
not by rocks but the gentler touch
of water rising above where it crowned
(there are many ways
to drown sound waves,
and not all of them are loud).

by Nicole Yackley

Editor’s Note: Surrealism is a brilliant way to create an emotional framework for a poem. This one uses imagery of the moon and water to create a space where the reader can imagine multiple emotions simultaneously. Also, the rhyme is lovely.