last june, i became friends with the moon.

walking up rochambeau toward hope with neil young’s “harvest moon” in my ears, i ran into an old friend who had been on my mind for nearly 5 months straight. you know the type of friend who you lose touch with because you have to, but who tends to seep into your thoughts and dig a them-shaped hole, stay a while? that’s this friend.

we bumped into each other on the street, gave ourselves some much-needed sidewalk therapy, and parted ways for the umpteenth time. as i walked away, i put my headphones back on, pressed “next” on the random selection playlist i’d been listening to, and what else but audrey hepburn’s voice singing me “moon river” soft and sweetly.

i was in need of healing, and the moon seemed to be pulling at me. i felt inspired to write not just about the moon, but to the moon. so i waited for the sun to go down so my muse could show her face, when i noticed she was blushing. a quick google search revealed the occasion for her pretty pink dress: june 17, 2019 ; i was looking up at the full strawberry moon.

the full moon of june was given the name “strawberry moon” by the algonquin native american tribes who used its pink appearance to signal the ripening of wild strawberries. a sign to gather. to harvest. the moon as a beacon.

that night, the strawberry moon painted my cheeks pink. throughout july, her glow deepened into a juicy red that bled down into my lips and stayed there, projecting my long-quieted voice. a newfound boldness. confidence. a makeover from the moon.

the poem i wrote that night is one of the first featured in my book “the silhouette inside” and many other poems and drawings in the collection take their inspiration from the strawberry moon who lit my face up that night.

PREORDER for my book coming very soon! check out another one of my poems from the collection, published here on Featured Poets.

all rights reserved. illustration by kirsten evans.