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2023 David A. Bickimer—Promise of Learnings Poetry Prize

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The Moon's Phase

by Jack Niemczyk

Mouth stings as I sip my martini, I try to look cool as I sip, praying for the slight chaser of lemon “With a twist”, as per usual in my life. Still, the drinks prickle warms my heart. My mind races as it writes my cerebral novel on the cover, and in my vision, the full moon. Odd how often she changes, this moon Its pull, like the tide, controlling the levels of my Martini “I am alone, what if I wasn’t?”; an idea so novel But the fear of rejection stings my wounds like a lemon And what wound is greater than that of the heart? But C’est La Vie!: something something LIFE! I look out and see my course like a boardgame, perhaps The Game of Life Its colorful spinner spun by the rising and setting of the moon Its crescent warming my masochistic heart “Another round”, shouts the fluted glass that once held my martini. I shout to the waiter, who replies with the acidic tinge of a lemon. And once again I begin to write this clairvoyant novel. I look over, another joins me at the bar, a boy who looks like he jumped out of a novel His cheeks flushed with the red promise of life And his hair; light yellow shimmering out of his hat like the rind of a lemon His eyes pitch black like the slight moment when the sun eclipses the moon He asked what I’m drinking, “martini” I say dryly. This nuanced pun warming my heart Chatting, moving closer, I can hear his heart It thumps, like the closing of a cover as you finish a novel he welcomes his olive Martini Placing his hand on mine, advancing this game of life My intuition leaves, jumping away like a cow over the moon I take a swig, hoping he’s not another lemon Could he be flirting, could I take this chance? Well when life gives you a lemon Make lemonade, squeeze this plump juice with the ridges of you heart And pass it through the phases of the moon To make a liquid SO refreshing, its idea becomes overused in a young adult novel A novel that shows the dastardly naïve beauty of life I finish my martini Could it be till morning or till he finished his martini, w

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