AV Poetry is edited by Florine Melnyk.

gentleman caller

the man in the moon

followed me home,

bobbing up and down

behind the boxy tops of

concrete condos,

peek-a-booing from behind

the pointed eaves of houses.

it’s hard to keep my eyes

on the road when

his buttery-yellow

ochre creased face keeps

smiling down, beneficent,

radiating night kindness;

a perfect man,

who lights the way,

never burns or scorches,

but will move the tides for you;

he’s waivering in his ascent,

hanging half-way down

between stars and the edge of earth

in a maxfield parrish sky

still backlit by sinking sun

cobalt blue dripping down

to water-thinned blur

then a stack of juicy colors—orange, peach, lemon,

and pink, at the bottom,

holding it all up;

so dense a blue, the man in the moon

is having trouble standing up,

the clouds—a giant’s fistful of denim fluff—

are squeezed lower and lower to the horizon.

the man in the moon

follows me home,

his face lit with that

contagious gentle grin;

i sing him a night aria,

he glows brighter;

i promise him an opera.

i think he winked.

—ryki zuckerman

Discovery

Oh show me that one—the reconciliatory soldier

who’s made of reckless pleasure and the spirals of the day.

And give me the man with the festival of sound;

with the helium of impulse releasing colors

across waters. And bring me that person

with the delicate measure, mixed with entropy and stillness

splashed through minutes of confusion. And send me that someone

of celebratory splendor, who rests with countless questions

which carve the angles of his days.

—jill morgan

How to get YOUR POETRY IN ARTVOICE! In the Margins occasionally features poetry by local writers. The poetry editor is Florine Melnyk. Submissions of no more than five poems and no more than 10 pages in length can be sent by e-mail to florine@starcherone.com or by mail to Florine Melnyk, Poetry Editor, Artvoice, 810 Main St., Buffalo, NY 14202 Please include a self-addressed stamped envelope to have manuscripts returned.