Tonight's Poet Corner: Only The Stars Knew

Only The Stars Knew
by Belinda Roddie

Tonight was when we were supposed
to meet again by the bonfire on Rutherford
Beach, where the sky was dripping with
honey smoke, and the whiskey was poured
out in musical flutes. As the minstrels
warbled boozy ballads, I caught ash on my
fingers where the flames kissed the heavens
and burned angels' halos, bronzing the gold
of their celestial nimbi, unraveling their robes
until they were as naked as God's first child.
You were lost on the highway, your car howling
at the moon, not knowing where it was, where you
were, where we were supposed to meet, and somehow,
after all the bourbon brains were sucked from their
glassy skulls, I forgot where you came from, what
you looked like, what your name was, who you were.