This Is the Crescent Moon

take a deep breath.
keep your mouth open.
catch the dust on your tongue.
catch the dead skin on your tongue.
the people who are in this room
with you are in your mouth now.
now look at their smiles.
scan your eyes over everything.
swallow their dead skin.
now they are in your stomach.
watch them float in the light.
watch the light from the window
forcing them to dance.
picture them dancing in your belly.
picture the underneaths of their skin.
picture a car driving off a bridge.
picture the lake becoming calm after
swallowing it whole.
if you are still nervous,
you can bite your fingernails.
swallow your fingernails.
your fingernails are in your stomach.
now they have little crowns.
now they think they are royalty.
they say your body is a kingdom.
they are correct.
someone in the room is talking
about william faulkner.
you notice you have a fingernail
stuck between your two front teeth.
you move it up and down
with your tongue.
you get nervous again so

leave the room.
go in the house owner’s bathroom.
splash lukewarm water on your face.
stick your tongue out at yourself.
look in the mirror and laugh.
laugh so hard that your guts hurt.
open the cabinet and find
their dental floss.
make a dental floss lasso.
try to lasso the cold water knob.
hum a song that you barely know.
use the floss that is lassoed
around the cold water knob
to get the fingernail out from
between your two front teeth.
return to the room where
everyone is sitting.
hold the fingernail to your chest.
tell everyone “this is the crescent
moon. the crescent moon is against
my beating heart: all of you are
inside of me and i wouldn’t have it
any other way. oh holy me. oh can’t
you see that this is important. that
this is everything. that your houses
are on fire. that everything is gonna

be ok?”