Craters and Valves
By Kirsten Miles
It’s raining tonight and I’m hurrying home.
People are gathered outside the shops waiting for it to
stop.
But the rain keeps pressing its nose to the pavement
the water alchemises light,
both the moon and the heart
are orbiting, turning, things
both have patches of
dryness and nectar,
bays of vapours and tides,
songs of dew and tempests,
tender and tough,
parts to chew.
tonight,
lunar craters and
valves, scatter, assemble,
accumulate. in warm, glowing,
homes,
under the bedside light.
I press my nose against the night.
the darkness gives birth to violets.
endless violets,
endless nights.
I scrape my knee on the pavement as I run
in from the rain
and the gash lets
starlight in.
at the end, if someone says I didn’t leap far enough,
I’ll show them the pavement I landed on.
the perennial nightflowers that peek from
its cracks and creases,
celestial cavities.
And if they say I didn’t fly high enough,
I’ll point to my heart and say
I saw all
the full
moons