how do ceremonies work? what magic

might be proper, i do not know, except

that once, billie asked her aunties

for advice about her heartache. billie

on the cusp of nineteen, the moon

something near full and trailing up

into the opening in the sky, velvet

shadows cast in heavy island grass. the quiz

came from cosmo, actually

but, this being a world of magic

even a cosmo quiz, taken with kind hearts

might pull soul and mind into alignment

such that questions, asked and answered

truthfully yield love. i don’t know that

but i do know this; those aunties

all single then, within six moons

were walking with life partners.

this may have nothing at all to do

with taking the time to stand

fresh hearted and suspenseful

reading cosmo to the cosmos

with billie, under the moon.