Happy Birthday Mx Luna by Sterling-Elizabeth Arcadia

after sherman kelly, who wrote “dancing in the moonlight” after being beat up and left

for dead in st. croix, by a gang who would later succesfully kill eight american tourists

i am almost to the beach when my head hits the curb and the bats hit my head far away i can see the waves i can the feet leaving me the moon

the moon lamp light post, o how big and bright you shine above my eyes. i cannot see for the blur. midnight moon dog, spectral halo howling before the rain, its already damp where i lie, concrete canal storm drain bed. street cleaners left these leaves for my pillows.

moon post light lamp, o how tall you stand above these soaked old bones. let me slumber. let me dream, let me go to where they get it on most every night: i need that supernatural delight. at everybodys dancing. in the moonlight.

and passersby, please, stay o so loose and o so light. happy and bright. let me sleep here, where they dont bark, and they dont bite. where everybody stays out of sight

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Sterling-Elizabeth Arcadia (she/they) is a trans poet and diy tattooer in washington dc, where she watches birds and cares for her cats. she is currently working on a chapbook of queer ekphrastic love poems based on her friends’ instagram posts. her work has been published in Stone of Madness Press and Fuck Your Dreams Zine, and is forthcoming elsewhere.