poems by Sydney Forbes

I’ve been talking to the moon lately. And she tells me how much the stars miss you. How when you go out, You don’t care to look up at them anymore. I’ve been talking to the moon lately. And she tells me that she tries to shine, A little brighter every night, In hopes that you’ll notice. It’s to my assumption, That me and the moon are of the same galaxy, Made up of the same atoms, Her natural satellite yearning for you to orbit Around her for once. She tells me it is unfair that her rotation is constant, While yours is ephemeral. That you just stand still. As you wait on her eager reliability.

I’ve been talking to the moon lately. I listen as she confesses how much she envies the sun, That she can never be a star. No matter how much she wants to. no matter how hard or, How much she tries. How even though it takes hundreds of days. You still make it around. I’ve been talking to the moon. And she explains how self conscious she is. How she over compensates at dawn. Knowing how your face mirroring the sun, Will beam up at its existence. Ignoring hers. And how it isn’t fair. Because at least she can guide the ocean. At least her gravitational pull, Commands the tide.

I’ve been talking to the moon. And she wishes you were the ocean. I agree with her. I tell her it would be easier if you were the ocean. Because then you would need her. You might even need me. Or at least enjoy our company, You would have no choice. The moon takes it back. She doesn’t want an imprisoned sea, She just wants you to look up, Like you did before. And bask in her lunar glow.

I’ve been talking to the moon. she reveals that she used to be your sun. How late at night, you’d strip, Laying down to take in her light. I’ve been talking to the moon. And she is glad that through this she now has me. Although I am not you, We both find a sense of security, Knowing that you were real. That you were for us. And only us. How you weren’t just some figment of either of our imaginations. But built up of bones and flesh, And blood coursing through your perfect body. She tells me of her fear. That one day you may return to one of us. And of how one of us will abandon the other. The day I spent screaming at the empty sky, I knew you had found your way back to her.

How my love for you, Just like my sorrow, Is as deep as the very thing I was trying to escape. When my lungs fill, With that marine, I will only be able to taste you. Floating away before Someone is able to save me. It’s where I will learn the lesson. Not even movies could teach me. It’s with my last breath I will say your name. Is this what you wanted? Is this what you wanted? Because I got exactly what I asked for.

When you said you needed an adventure, I laughed with my head thrown back, “We all do”. We all need to drive down the highway Rid of our cares and worries, With the scent of fast food And greasy fingers on the steering wheel. Like criminals Straight down route 66 The thought of looking back, going Straight out the window.

When you actually left, I wasn’t surprised, just saddened. Saddened that you didn’t take me That you didn’t even ask Ask if I wanted to drive down the lovers highway And keep going.

I hope you’re having fun out west, Back at home I run into your mom at the grocery She asks me, how you’ve been. The old library we used to go to, To read Faulkner and kiss, Feels dark and dank now that you’re gone. I promised when you drove away, That I would too, But it’s been so hard to think about saying goodbye, Of this old town we grew up in. So many memories, And so many people, I can’t let go just yet, I can't believe you’re out in the city. Living the life we thought we would. Tonight you’re probably, with some five foot nine blonde. Who doesn’t care how you got that scar above your left eye. Even though you insist on telling her. It was from shooting guns. I think the hardest thing to do now, Is stop. loving. You, Who I was, And how it felt. Our little metropolis in color. Now back to sepia. I hope you saturate Los Angeles with your tinge, God knows they already have the sun, But I bet that it burns brighter with you. How could it not? How could it not.....