"The clarity of the moon, novels and sink" and "Stained Beach"

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The clarity of the moon, novels and sink

It was two months

before I didn’t need a mirror

to remind me of the curved lines in my eyes. Brown, like my father. Nose, sloped, wide

long, like my mother.

My painter hands,

creased and stained, bubbling

thread-pin stabs, like no one. When I reached for my magics, all I felt

was the clanging of the bell-man

as he yanked a gnarled rope, letting the townsfolk know what day it was.

How could they forget? How could I? With felt pins in my shirt

and gold floral hoops in my holes,

I almost felt like an accurate copy of myself.

But some days, I was a mushing

dalmation-spotted banana. I searched for my eyes and hands

in between bricks of dust-crusty pages,

trying to remember the plot and actions. But I couldn’t find

where the love-cave in my mind was, where my surprised goose bumps came from, how I cared about the shape of houses or the dotty-rotting dalmation bananas. Now

out my dusk-drop kitchen window my soapy painter

hands washing

tomato-smeared dishes

shook, then stilled.

The moon was a shallow curve

like the line between hip and breast,

when she breathed

into me and whispered

hello.

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Stained Beach

A hug is waiting under

a Sailor’s moon and a Rosé sky—

morning bands

of light between your hips

and thighs.

Persephone flutters, shoves

her violet-stained

fist down your throat, hides

a tulip seed

in your chrysalis ribs.

Crack open your chest, nutty

caramel goo

to the paper—weight warmth

of spring.

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Jessica Scirocco is a writer, painter, and designer whose work is playful, lush and intricate. She can find a story in simple acts like cleaning dishes, going for a walk in the forest and picking flowers. She believes finding beauty in ordinary things is where everyday magic thrives. She has had individual poems published in Tiny Seed Literary Journal, Plants & Poetry Journal, Ariel Publishing LLC and Eclectica Magazine.