THE SUN IS THE MOON
Jordan Sullivan

life was the length of a cigarette
the days had no names
the men grew up to be strong women
we could only read the sky from memory
we imagined stars that were never born
we lived together on a lost planet
in a leftover part of the solar system
where the sun was the moon
orbiting a teenage daydream
i still can’t let go of
for the first time we fell in love for the last time
the loser got back in the ring
the winner hung up his gloves
and
all we could think to do was get drunk
and
watch each other fall
i got real good at pretending to fly
and you could win a staring contest with the sun
sometimes i still believe we aren’t extinct
we are walking those dream lines
and our endings are never happy
and they are never sad
they’re strange
the hitchhiker catches a ride into the mirage
and he knows that real paradise is the lifeline
in the palm of a dirty hand
and our scars are the nameless roads
we roll down
wearing tattoos of sainted bad men
are we all a boy in the mud
are we a child under the bed
was death ever young
did death die a strange death
like we do
screaming into the silence
for nothing to hear
like how we were born singing our requiems
like how life is a bird singing off key
and we are a crooked highway
an escape route
a view from a broken heartbeat
where we can see the country inside
now we are detectives lost in a midnight city
every city is atlantis
gone
and we are a dead language
low lives on the top floor
the slums of a dreamless city
but the world is still here
and we are still drowning on the 5th floor of hotel eternity
and you are at the window
still threatening to jump
while all our friends put fear up their noses
lick cocaine off their reflections
we all paint pictures of heaven’s gate
we sing songs about silent infinity
and run through the hologram of life
we are innocence and panic
we are lost homes
losing touch
local prophets
moving on
toward a lost star
unemployed
blind men
with no time
because time is nothing
a 24/7 psychic vampire
behind the wheel of abandoned fortunes
the sun is the moon down here
we’re selling prayers
to a condemned man
i was the last savage
the ordinary sorrow
in a wasted light
that was the country between us
the sun at night
my fear of time
waiting on the universe
now it feels like it’s raining
but it’s just all the years we planted
in the old community garden
coming back to haunt us
like better days
like worried light
i had a handful of second chances
and now i’m praying for one more
but i already spent my last dollar on earth on a breath of fresh air