f64c917f731235b5604b2779ecb5e01bMy hand
resting a top yours
the same size in our shadow
you with little feet and longer ties
inheriting portions
 
I see in your eyes
the easement of life
as if you are in slow motion
falling gently behind yourself
going back in time
I think of the local cinema
being old enough to see over the railing
a film about a man plugged to a machine
all his memories flickering in retreat
until he is a fetus a heartbeat a blip
so far back he does not exist
 
is that you?
dissolving, reducing
I watch bread rise and moon’s sink
wonder at the circular motion of things
how I slept with a light on
now you remind me
not to close the door
my chest aches for what I long to give but cannot
 
it is as if you were born of me
my longing to love
I cannot make sense of why
but you were always the only one
my arms reach at night for your surround
 
I hear your voice on hungry chime of wind
all the pain blooms around me
like cancan girls frothing their scarlet hems
I remember bougainvillea climbing up the walls
can see you with your hair slicked back from the bath
steam rising in dark breeze
 
you made a circle of me and wore me around your neck
where I lay far too still listening to your heart beat
now we are divided by wire and thread
two half-made mannequins
no matter how far I stretch
I cannot reach your gaze
it stared listless at angry waves
as they build and recede
in the abyss of your memories