your laughter is interrupted
and the punch line crumbles onto your lap.

as you answer your phone
          the chair hardens
                    svelte
                    to skeletal.
          every corner in your bones
          grinds
          against every edge of wood.

as the earpiece exhales
          the grey seeps in from the dusty dome
          and a wheeze of cloudy cold
          floats, foggy, over the sill
          and freezes firm your loose lips
          before a smile can stretch them.

you rise
          and the door evaporates
          at your touch
                    a droplet
                    to your violent,
                    expanding
                    gasps.­
          the croaking in your ear
                    feeble
                    but ‘fine’
          traps your tongue
          under stacks of pennies.
          your heart
                    singular
                    sympatheti­c
          beats fast enough for two
          bodies.

you stand on frail, fractured leaves
          and try to cram crutches
          and buttresses
          through a receiver,
          but your fumbling fingers
          won’t speak.
          your neck buckles
          and bends
          under the heavy phone
          call.

back inside
teetering on your bony seat
you try to sit on your hands
          scoops of your scattered words
                    ‘my leaving
                    was the healthiest thing
                    that has ever happened to her–’
          foreign and
          hollow.