o(r)bits

i) waxing

My canines fall out first, then my molars, then one front tooth and all of my bottom teeth. They
fall out because I forgot to brush them. They are on strike from my body. I hold all of my striking
teeth in my palms. For as long as I hold them, we are still one.

ii) waning

There will always be more I don’t know. Like how to tile a bathroom or lay grout. How to power
wash a sidewalk. How to jumpstart a car. Every day, a new topic to learn. And instead of
learning, I turn to poetry, try thirty new ways to talk about the moon.

iii) new

	And what am I to		the moon but			a tide to be moved?			I live on her
     lunar cycle;			  we align			& misalign				I was born on			a Thursday, 
		of all days.		The moon,	  	  she doesn't believe in		   days,			   she just orbits.

								When the moon dies,			all of the women
					will die with her,								drowned in			our own
								oceans \\		I drank			salt water on my		death bed;
		sand burrowed in		my gums;						hard rock scraped my
						   tongue;		  I knew:				   I was					   going home.

---

---