on the phone he asks me if I’ve been seeing anyone lately
in a parallel universe where pride does not taste of cough syrup
and we are still paper dolls
weightless and so hopeful and short of breath
I would have painted murals on the backs of his eyelids
as an explanation
I would have admitted that I’ve been seeing ghosts
rise up from the cracks in the floorboards
and they have warm hands
familiar only in a dependable absence of familiarity
that I take solace in
because we are both here and not
both incidentally veiled in the irony of transparency
tell me all the things you couldn’t see then,
and I will show you now,
I would have said,
tell me how we continue to miss that which is
right in front of us
- is it but for a lack of recognition?
treacled words spilling out of cupped palms
running down our wrists
do you also wonder why we slip
through each other’s fingers?
Jan 15, 2022
Jan 15, 2022 at 5:30 PM UTC
on the phone he asks me if I’ve been seeing anyone lately
in a parallel universe where pride does not taste of cough syrup
and we are still paper dolls
weightless and so hopeful and short of breath
I would have painted murals on the backs of his eyelids
as an explanation
I would have admitted that I’ve been seeing ghosts
rise up from the cracks in the floorboards
and they have warm hands
familiar only in a dependable absence of familiarity
that I take solace in
because we are both here and not
both incidentally veiled in the irony of transparency
tell me all the things you couldn’t see then,
and I will show you now,
I would have said,
tell me how we continue to miss that which is
right in front of us
- is it but for a lack of recognition?
treacled words spilling out of cupped palms
running down our wrists
do you also wonder why we slip
through each other’s fingers?
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