cloud swallowed moon

the headline ran 
cloud swallowed moon whole 

written in cobalt blue letters on scarlet tissue paper but i know it to be true
because 
i watched from my plastic grey chair on the back porch as the moon entered through its
mouth penetrating deep to the belly of the cloud 

light played in shadows 
not cheap garish beams bright glaring but soft warm rich moon light 

beams weaved patterns on my skin 
tattooing proof
warmed beneath the ink i rocked back on two plastic legs trusting they’d hold up in spite of countless warnings not to 
but rocking i am both mind and body

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Dr Rachel Faleatua is a lecturer in media and communication at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. She has published on authenticity labour in the Continuum Journal and on affective labour in the forthcoming Routledge Companion to Gender and Celebrity. She has had her poetry published in Landfall and takahē.