Submissions by December_Carnation (clare)

She is the Queen of the Black Sea; Mistress of the Night Ocean,
     her sole companions the stars
     (but they are oh, so far away).

She watches, and casts a frosty glow onto the leaves of suburban trees.
(They do not feel her gaze, but if they did, oh, how they would tremble.)

Some call her pale, some call her small--
     some even mistake her, the Queen, for a king--
but all know of her power:
     the way she tugs the ocean into forming waves;
     the way she makes lunatics and wild animals out of sane men;
     the way...

I observe his hair, dyed periwinkle.
He tells me it was supposed to come out galaxy-colored.
“So it would match your eyes,” I don’t say.

We both hold a cappuccino
carefully,
as if to spill it
would be to spill our secrets.
“Mine has a leaf design,” he says.
“Mine has a heart,” is my response,
even though
they’re the same.

Steam rises from our drinks,
joining the morning fog.
We had woken up without an alarm,
because it was Saturday.

I comment that his hair is the same color as the sky ...