October Moon

By Claire Hersom

I see you every so often;

at the grade school parking lot

the House of Pizza

driving down by the lake near the Legion.

 

You have a painter cap on,

your expression a half smile,

and if I close my eyes, I can

feel your mouth kissing mine

under the October moon,

the mill stream steady beside us,

me, hungry to pour life back into

a splintered heart.

 

Under red and gold branches,

windows of the town dark,

we held hands, hip to hip, and kissed

until the world lost its balance.

 

Twenty years later, you pass me in a car,

your wife and your daughter talking,

moving a hand, brushing hair from a brow

or reaching forward. One hand on the wheel

lifts a hello in my direction.

We smile.

 

Take Heart: A Conversation in Poetry is produced in collaboration with the Maine Writers & Publishers Alliance. Poem copyright © 2008 Claire Hersom. Reprinted from “Drowning: A Poetic Memoir,” Moon Pie Press, 2008, by permission of Claire Hersom. Questions about submitting to Take Heart may be directed to Gibson Fay-LeBlanc, special consultant to the Maine Poet Laureate, at mainepoetlaureate@gmail.com or 207-228-8263.

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