Chains of Silver

Does the moon feel my anger?

Is that why she is so full, because she is as brimmed with ire as I am?

Or is she imbued with love and healing light?

Is it love meant for me, or love meant for someone else?

Does it even matter? She pulls us all with an instinctive magnetism

Drawing us nearer through blind attraction

A glowing orb hanging above our heads

I think I see my face

That’s no man in the moon, but a celestial reflection of my own body

I stare at myself in the sky

Bright curves and soft edges

Layer upon layer of silver

Full like lips and curved like hips

Love or lust pulling at the currents, bringing in the tide

Faithful subjects, called to worship their goddess

She shines down, acknowledging the adoration

I wonder if her disciples see my face when they turn their attention to the heavens

Or do they see their own?

Is that her allure? Show everyone themselves to make us all fall in love

Beguiled as moths to the soft contour of blue flame

Or is she full of scorn, like me?

Waiting for prey, patient in her cycle till she is replete and resplendent

A pied piper whispering love songs on wind and water

Till we are clinging to the strands of love and light, only to find that we are caught in her web

Night nymph, binding us in her silvery chains only to suffer her wrath

A deadly dark predator who wears my gleaming face

---------------------------------------------------------

Ashleigh is a Black American female storyteller. With a BFA in Photography and Imaging from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, Ashleigh creates compelling images inspired by nature and light. Having always enjoyed narratives, Ashleigh has a propensity for creative writing.

Exploring themes of race, relationships and nature, her focus is mainly on short stories and poetry, though she is also working on her first novel. Ashleigh has visited 20 countries to date and plans on visiting all seven continents. You can view her work and travel writing on her website, www.ashleighhenry.com.

blackout poetry , poetry books , slam poetry , ancient love poetry, boudoir photography , nude photography , still life photography , cg artwork , artwork singulart , nowness, nowness in residence , nowness submissions , style like u, colors, warsan shire, cover letter for poetry submission, poetry submission format, def jam poetry, poetry magazine, frontier poetry, selectism, muzzle magazine, mubi, poet, writers workshop, writers submission, poet submission, tracy k smith , poetry out loud , contemporary poetry , natasha trethewey , modern poetry , complete poems , mary oliver , william butler yeats , elizabeth bishop , poet laureate , prose , literary criticism , walt whitman , young poet , free verse , lyric , artist interview, interviews, poet interview, maya angelou , Joy Harjo , treefort artist submission , art basel artist submission , rolling loud artist submission , tappan collective artist submission , kinfolk , azeema , a3c artist submission, where to submit your artwork , how to write an artist submission , south by southwest artist submission , pottery barn artist submission , saatchi art artist submission , how to submit lyrics to artists , comic artist submission , deviantart art , how to submit art to magazines , art contest submission guidelines , how to submit to an art gallery , online art magazines , best online art magazine , online art magazine submission , online art magazines uk , what is the best art magazine , best art photography magazines , biggest art magazines , online art poetry magazine contest , free online poetry magazines , best online poetry magazine , poetry magazines accepting online submissions uk , online poetry literary magazine , popular poetry magazines , short story submissions , where to submit short stories , photography art submissions , best magazines for photography submissions , best creative magazines , best creative magazines accepting submissions , roxanne noor , brogan dinsdale , patrick schiefen