Writing Workshop
By Beki Test
they say the moon doesn’t belong in a poem
you have written The moon is sometimes male
no one knows what you mean
its grad school and everyone feels superior
they roll their eyes and say the words too romantic
like it’s a sickening smell
sure glad I don’t know that guy
they say
and snicker.
the moon? as a metaphor?
It’s so tired, so overdone.
you are not allowed to say anything yet
so you are scribbling furiously
making tornado shapes on the page
waiting for intervention but
the instructor sits in an overstuffed chair
fingers steepled, nodding gravely
which is just where you wish you were
in a grave, that is, buried in rich dark loam
instead of here on a long blue sofa
diminishing
waning under the weight of those words
that eclipse you like a moon
the one that doesn’t belong in a poem.
it’s on nights like these
you know something–someone
is in the room with you and it’s so dark
you can’t see and it’s so bright with moonwash
you can see there’s no one there but you
and your breath and the moon
the one that doesn’t belong in the poem
Beki Test is an educator and a poet who took MV Times columnist Nancy Slonim Aronie’s Chilmark Writers Workshop.
Poets with a connection to Martha’s Vineyard are encouraged to submit poems to community@mvtimes.com.
