your mountain-top cheekbones were all i could see;
if i swallowed your entire face: your pudgy nose, whitewater eyes,
small lips, and your mocha frappuccino skin,
i couldn’t have walked away with aspirations, professed comfort
for the next few months.
when we meet again, under growing poplar trees
we’ll love. love like there was never a goodbye,
like there never will be one. two planets dancing
in their shared, ephemeral orbit.
i walked away from you, and
my heartbeat sped faster than harley motorcycles
swerving down route 66, beside roads that
are as lonely as the moon in downtown skies.
silent spells 
Oh my gosh this is soooo sad and beautiful! The last stanza is everything! Wow! ”…beside roads that are as lonely as the moon in downtown skies.”
Based on a true story? In a way I hope not because I can’t even begin to imagine how it feels! I think I’ll be reading this poem again and again and again. It’s amazing.
Awww!! I’m so glad you liked it! Thank you 🙂 Your comment made my day, haha. Yes, it is based on a true story, I wrote about my feelings when saying goodbye to my boyfriend before leaving to college. Even though it’s my fourth year and sometimes you get “use” to it, it still hurts each time.
Oh no 😦 😦 😦 The good thing is life’s a long while, you never know where it’ll take you.
Yes, exactly! And well, we didn’t break up or anything.. it’s just I go to college in a different state so we’ll be away from each other. Good thing we have Skype!
Also, this is a random question–but have you changed your spam settings? I can no longer comment on your site. 😦 I asked akismet and they said to double check with those whose blog I’m trying to comment on.
Really? I don’t even know what spam settings are! Let me check to see if anything is wrong because I don’t think I’ve ever touched my akismet stuff 😦
This was a lovely piece! It’s bittersweet. I remember when I broke up with my boyfriend (husband now because we got back together) I listened to Keane’s song, We might as well be strangers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzj_ZLcYE5w Your poem evokes that same feeling I get when I listen to this song ;____; It really tugs at my heart.
I interpreted the second stanza like a theoretical meeting or one in their dreams. Or maybe they grew apart and he’s hoping in the future it might work out. It did for me and my husband 🙂 He was my first boyfriend, and I was pretty young so it took me a while to figure things out.
The last stanza was really beautiful. The road is symbolic of one’s journey in life, so it seems like he is trying to move on, or that they couldn’t be together in life, at least not now. And the lonely moon is a projection of how he’s feeling now.
The only thing that made me pause was the part about the planets dancing. I just can’t see or feel planets dancing. I might go about it talking about the gravitational pull. But I’m not sure if that concept would work since this is a poem. Or maybe dancing stars because I think of stars as being more playful than planets, and the whole star-crossed lovers thing. Also since you used the moon, stars kind of fit better than planets?
Thank you for your detailed comment! 🙂 And oh my gosh, I just heard the song–it’s so sad! I’ve definitely felt that way before, so I know what you mean. I’m glad you were able to feel something with this poem, although I hope it wasn’t something negative! I wrote based on my feelings while saying goodbye to my boyfriend before heading off to start school again (I go to school in a different state). Even though we’ve been together a long time, those goodbyes hurt each time.
Thank you! Actually, the first thing I wrote while writing this poem was that stanza. It’s interesting how it ended up being last.
Ohh, I see what you’re saying. Thank you for your input 🙂 I guess I thought about it in that, two different worlds (in this case planets) still interacting and having fun by sharing one movement… but I didn’t convey that well enough haha. I see what you mean about the stars fitting more, and it would’ve probably made the image easier to picture.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful comment! 🙂 I appreciate it.
Splendid description of the emotions one feels while bidding farewell to a loved one. The comparison with 2 planets dancing in the shared, ephemeral orbit left me speechless ! This is beautiful poetry, Julie. Simply loved it. I would say ‘lived’ it as it brings so many memories 🙂
Aww thank you I really appreciate it! I’m glad you were able to sense these emotions. I love astronomy And I need to incorporate more of it in my work!
It was a pleasure to live those words with you 🙂 And that is awesome if you can combine your two loves (writing and astronomy). Would love to see that in future. 🙂
You are too kind! Haha, I have many loves, and combining those two would be interesting to explore. Thanks again for stopping by!
I am glad I stopped by 🙂