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Published: Thu Jul 1 2004
Chitra Ganesh, To Assemble a Flying Car (detail), 2018, linocut on tan BFK Rives. Courtesy of the artist & Durham Press.
The Lovers in the Moonlight

He is naked under his lavender cloak.
He straddles a planet far below, something you cannot see but feel is there.
His arms may be long and strong,but feminine in the way they cup you.
He may have a raccoon tail tucked under his hat.
He may have a white felt hat.
His right arm is your arm, sweeps around you and holds your breast.
Your naked breasts, the hubs of the most important secret between you.
He is reading one of these creamy maps with his right hand.
As he holds you, your cotton dress changes colors.
Your upturned face is a pearly plate of delight.
Your back is arched, your neck, silky and boneless.
Your head sways behind you under the moon.
Your eyes closed, you are drifting.
The green of your opened blouse is the green of pure grass.
The moon above, a white silver dollar.
Your blue choker is holding your head on.
Otherwise, you would drop into the blue
of the blue night sky
and float away.

Martha Kinney is the author of The Fall of Heartless Horse from Akashic Books. She won the Menn Prize for Fiction at The University of Chicago as well as The Olin Poetry Award, The Elizabeth Jones Writing Scholarship, and The Pazo Mayberry Poetry Award at The University of New Hampshire. (updated 10/2004)

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