pick your nose whilst you
drive down a bumpy road

We are essentially unknowable, she says
and laughs.
I’ve lived with the same man
for thirtyoddyears
and he’s basically a stranger.

A stranger that occupies
her bed,
her body
her kitchen table.
They eat oatmeal out of stoneware bowls
washing them over and over
traces of their spit
mixing together
in the lukewarm dish water.

He clears the sink
of the bloated grey solids
that remain there once the water has drained.
They are so similar
two magnets aligned  
as they’ve drawn closer
the space left between
grown smaller but harder.

A question rings red as a tuning fork struck.
The spreading halo glows it's ache
through the tunnels of the head
hammer, mallet, and shell
all shimmer in concert
I am awash in it's ripples
and my mouth fills
with the iron taste of rust.
There is metal in it all
in blood and in dirt
and there in the tone
as my own blood aligns redly
along it’s sharp edge
traces embedded
in the weather and in my veins
charged, polar, always pushing
at the the insulation
the condensing division
the gulf

1)Spill out your heart in a poem and write every single little detail about how he makes you feel like your body is on fire but in a good way
2)Reject your poem, and substitute the two hundred thirty nine words with three letters “hey”
3)Feel the pain of talking to someone who has no idea what flirting is
3)Tell yourself you are not taking a direct enough approach
1) Spill out your heart in poetry and write every single little detail about how he makes you feel like your body is on fire
2) reject your poem, and substitute the two hundred thirty nine words with three words “So whats up”
3)Feel the pain of talking to someone who has no idea what dating is like
4)Tell yourself you will not worry over how you look for him
4)Tell yourself you will not worry over how you look for him
4) Tell yourself you will not worry over how you look for him
5)Be friends with his friends
6)Watch his favorite show
7)Imagine every good way this could end
8)Imagine every bad way this could end
9)Tell yourself you will be his friend, nothing more
10)Write two hundred and thirty nine words to tell him what he does to you
11)Wait for him to read your poetry