Steven O. Young Jr.

Lunation

Light hemorrhages 
a black hole
in the braille of night, 
the clipped nail sickle 
slivering 
a jealous hand
doomed to hold 
more growth. 
Its silver bloom 
calcified 
over the widest eyes

and dreams of every upturned animal.

In the patch
-works of celestial 
speculation,
dustmote nebulas 
and pleromatic gravity
leak 

from our darkest corners
to see hollowness 
become whole. 

The vivid weight 
hangs 
from a vacuous hand.
Its grip winds 
like a vise

powerless 
to let go

the moment the moon swells
a full ripeness 
fashioned from desires
for the virtues of a merciful sun.

Lambent fantasies 
get juiced
in a slow, relentless press. 
Corrosion 
dots the matrices 
constellating our canvas.

But there’s no holding back
the tides 
from springing. 
Our candles,
pinched 
to cinders, 
still smolder

in unseen pulses, 
licking 
to leap and lunate,
eager to lead 
the next dance
choreographed 
by our incorrigible orbit.

Steven O. Young Jr. is knitted within the Great Lakes' mitten, where he earned an MA from Oakland University and occasionally slathers soundstages with his body weight's worth of paint. His latest literary homes include In Parentheses, Flint Hills Review, Gabby & Min’s Literary Review, Revolute, and NonBinary Review.