to finally touch a woman was no simple thing. It was in some way, like a newborn crying out; pleading/begging for the gory familiarity of the womb; yet, curious about the doom that awaits: the heartache, the toothache: the sudden rush of blood that meets the cheeks when a moment of terror creeps up. Touching her, in the sublet- paying triple for my own space, I faced her. In the California King: sheets made of nerves and soft humming; I opened my mouth, my hair spilled about. neighbors unaware of the sudden quake of demolition. My body in a construction site, rebuilt, cemented, and collected as an entirely new property. The room carrying me Like a child, eyes opened To what I had been missing.