I was in fourth grade when I was introduced to Sailor Moon, and it was because my best friend was heavily into it. I remember how we used to act out as Sailor Moon characters during sleepovers, and how my best friend would read from the manga series the anime series is based on. After the fourth grade, Sailor Moon faded into the background, but I never forgot how it brought my best friend and I together (we've been friends for almost ten years now as of this year.)

So recently, I decided to reminisce old times by watching the original Sailor Moon anime that came out during the 90s. While I was watching, I felt a new love for the show; I came to realize that while I always associated Sailor Moon with my best friend and saw it as a "girl power" show I never truly realized how revolutionary it was for young girls like us everywhere. (I mean, I was nine, and I thought female superheroes were such a common thing already.) For example, Sailor Moon capitalized on the idea of diverse, strong female characters fighting for one cause — for love and for justice against sexual discrimination, jealousy and all things evil in general.

In short, the past two weeks of my life have been me reliving my childhood obsession with Sailor Moon; I even managed to binge through the reboot, which I happen to really enjoy despite a lot of the mixed reviews. (I know a lot of people say the animation for the first two seasons isn't great, but since I don't know anything about animation, it looked beautiful to me.) And so, as a result of all this binging, I wrote several characterization type poems about seven of my favorite characters from the show.

I. Serenity

sweet moonlight through the windows
on a clear night;
this is you,
kissing your children sweetly,
and I relish in it
a soft and silky caress full of nostalgia
please don't ever leave
even when the sun comes to kiss the sky,
don't ever leave.

II. Mars

Whenever you walk
you scorch the earth beneath you,
and ignite the sleeping stars above;
even hell has never felt
more alive until you
waltzed through its halls.

III. Saturn

"Let be"

your lips are trembling
and your heart is an ocean of
nightmares and uncertainties
but believe me, little one,
you will be the leader of a silent revolution;
one that kisses and tears at agony's flesh,
and send him straight back to
the infernal in which he came;
you will save a fragile universe,
through a soft and silent proclamation..

laisser être. let be.

IV. Mercury

"Tender"

you dream in soft blues and pinks,
of waves softly touching your toes.

you dream in pigments,
you dream of softness,
you are a tender heart

but let no one be mistaken,
a tender heart is not
one that can stay that way
when touched violently

tender heart you are
but an ocean always has the potential
to destroy
when given the chance.

V. Small Moon

has anyone told you that you are special?
has anyone truly looked into your bruised little heart
and whispered the words you needed to hear,
those affirmations and validations? to tell you
that you are capable of anything
no matter how small.

If not,

here they are...

VI. Pluto

solitude was once a sacrifice
eventually becoming comfortable
but now
looking into endless oceans of pinks, blues, greens, reds
and purples,

you begin to wonder how you even
managed to live with solitude
for a millennia.

VII. Neptune

deep ocean foam lays behind your eyes,
and though you watch from afar
you feel the phantom of her love
clawing at your skin,
but you don't even mind,
in fact, you smile
and invite her in.