We force ourselves to stand
Three feet apart
hips hug both sides of my stove
This is the only way we can exchange words
without clutching jaw
and drinking down
the longing on our tongues
without inhaling goose bumps
and locking fingers,
palms and tips--
our roots
twisting around an angular world
Our words might as well be our pores
touching and igniting into the night
They dance around our mouths and
tug at our stories
It is our pause that holds me,
Where silence steps in like a sister
Nodding and approving
of the way
we look at each other
like a night sky
bursting with bright
You are my light.