by Natalie Lim
(Content Warning: mention of nazis.)
With thanks to Sarah Kay
don’t ask how, but we did it.
we made it to the moon, and—to be honest—it kinda rules?
every trip outside puts a bounce (ha!) in my step.
our first morning here, you asked if I wanted the moon news
and I said sure I guess? and you handed me a blank piece of paper.
I’ve never smiled so big in my life.
today’s moon news says “ROCKS ROCK.”
I write under it: “WIND BLOWS.”
we go on like that for a while, because why not?
“MOSQUITOS SUCK.”
“PINS NEEDLE.”
“CUCUMBERS PICKLE.”
as the list grows, we take longer between entries.
take the time to write words we can be proud of.
there’s no hurry. nowhere else we need to be.
after 54 minutes of silence,
you stand up and yell “WORDS PLAY!”
and I laugh myself to tears at the excitement on your face.
this edition of The Moon News becomes
a crown too big for your head.
you wear it proudly the rest of the day.
there are no fires on the moon.
no nazis to fight. no capitalist systems,
because there’s no money, because what would we spend it on—
it’s the strangest thing, learning to live in a world
that doesn’t need saving.
it’s just me and all these rocks
and the chief editor of The Moon News,
pun-laden crown slipping slowly down your
forehead
as you turn to me with a wink
and say, funny, isn’t it? how it’s never been easier for us
to breathe.
NATALIE LIM is a Chinese-Canadian poet living on the unceded, traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, British Columbia). She is the winner of the 2018 CBC Poetry Prize and Room Magazine’s 2020 Emerging Writer Award, with work published in Arc Poetry Magazine, Best Canadian Poetry 2020 and elsewhere. You can find her on Twitter at @nataliemlim.
chief editor of The Moon News can be found in Augur Magazine Issue 4.1.
