I see the moon and a single pulsing star;
Static and proud, guardians of a night sky.
Her luminescence warms my thigh,
And a gentle breeze kisses my soul.

A white chocolate Malteser: replete with
Craters and dust, ingredients of a young love.
I see the moon, the moon sees me,
And she is all orbit and resplendence.

Her quiet light breaks me. I long for pieces
Of her on my tongue; astral sacrament.
Taste her, and tell your God she is yours
And He can keep his other heavenly bodies.

Moon, how does it feel to have lived forever?
To have witnessed births, unravellings, blood on
hands, and stolen kisses. How does it feel, moon,
to be beauty and misery?

A dark chill came upon my thigh. Alas, her
Light had gone! I cursed gravity, reaching for
a pull cord in the night sky, until I felt her
Again. My dear moon, resting on my chest,

In search of the sluicing poetry of my heart.
Soon, the room was wholly occupied by
darkness. And what remained of my moon,
was a strip of dying light, breaking me.

Alas, it was not love! But a presentation of her
existence. A witnessing of births, unravellings, blood on
hands, and stolen kisses. Revolving
around beauty and misery.

Aanuoluwapo Adesina (2024)

Aanuoluwapo Adesina is a Nigerian poet and writer. He currently serves as Founder and Editor of The Olugbon Review— a literary and art magazine created to curate the unheard voices and unseen crafts of young writers and artists without a platform of their own or mainstream exposure. He is a graduate of the Creative Writing MFA program at Butler University, Indiana. His works have appeared in Brittle Paper, ROPES Literary Journal, Kalahari Review, and elsewhere. He enjoys writing, bowling, and taking walks in his leisure.