By: April Mae M. Berza

Dale As the Moon’s Embrace

Dale is the sweetest metaphor
a poet like me could never fathom
since metaphors could no longer

encapsulate the nuances of the moon
as well as the stars kissing Dale’s chest.
I wonder why the entire galaxy

envies Dale’s smiles and laughter,
the universe is but a small cat
on Dale’s lap, purring and meowing.

Words sing and songs write what’s
in Dale’s witty mind. Sometimes
I want to enter Dale’s left ventricle

and reside for a while. Poetry is better
when Dale is around the corner
to embrace the subtleties of lexicons

whenever I craft the loveliest lines
my heartbeats succumb, succumb
to the passion of my only moon, Dale.

###

Dale As He Stares at the Milky Way

Dale is fond of the constellation
of moles on my countenance
though he never told me about it

for fear that I might shy away
from him. My chest is fraught
with memories of our night sky

together as the sweetest sirocco
waltzed with Dale’s sweetest
smiles and I could not help but

wonder why the entire universe
never conspire to let me meet
Dale’s shadows as I try to sleep

with the serenade of distant stars.
I dream of Dale and Dale dreams
of me. Why do dreams never

cross each other in a lifetime
of meteors and moons? There’s
but a strange conversation

between the windows of my soul
and Dale’s. We started to juggle
the poetry of the universe but failed

to succeed. Many astronomers
observe the darkness of the skies.
I see the light in Dale’s eyes.

###

April Mae M. Berza is the author of Confession ng isang Bob Ong Fan (Flipside, 2014) and Berso de Berza (Charging Ram, 2012.) Her poems and short stories appeared in numerous publications in America, France, Canada, Belgium, Romania, India, Japan, Great Britain, and the Philippines. Her poems are translated into Crimean Tatar and Filipino. Some of her poems are published in Liwayway, Belleville Park Pages, Haiku Journal, The Siren, Poetica, Three Line Poetry, Calliope, Maganda, Metric Conversions, Ani, The Manila Times, Letters to my Bully, Remembering Rizal, Voices from the Diaspora, Madswirl, The Stardust Gazette, The Riveter Review, Asahi Haikuist Network, Contemporary Verse 2, and elsewhere. She used to work for the associate editor position of Toe Good. Her poem “E-Martial Law” was broadcast on IndoPacific Radio on KPFA 94.1FM/kpfa.org and her poem “A Page from History” was broadcast on WYCE Electric Poetry 88.1 FM in Michigan, USA. She is a member of the Poetic Genius Society. Her two haiku entries were featured in the 9th Yamadera Basho Memorial Museum English Haiku Contest Selected Haiku Submissions Collection, July 2017. She received an Honorable Mention in the 19th HIA Haiku Contest and the 7th Akita Russia-Japan Haiku Contest. She lives in Taguig, Philippines. She plans to write a series of Dale poems for DJ.