Ryan Rader

Heavenly Bodies

The moon tonight is close enough to be touched.
Pet the moon. Run your eyes around her brow,
her blemishes. Don't let your fingers go
where poorly flown spaceships have crashed.

Talk to the moon - remember, she knows where you sleep,
and with whom, and the cheap shit you both drank.
Give compliments and good advice to the moon.
She hasn't been feeling well, she's put on weight,

doesn't look herself - resembles a worried balloon.
Be careful where you fly, be gentle when you land.
The moon is close because she wants you near.
She loves us so much though we rarely speak.

The moon and I have had a falling-out.
Every morning I wake up and she would be gone -
but every night she would watch me while I slept
and it is so hard to stay angry with each other.

I am still amazed at her repertoire of talents:
When distant, she still interprets the sun.
When full, she glares at the earth so fiercely
we pull the ocean over us like a blanket.

Ryan Rader is a bass guitar with an extra heartbeat. He will graduate from Ball State University with a degree in Creative Writing this May and will also graduate from a drunken man-child into an emotionally student young adult.