The Distance of Intimacy

all my grief spent. i borrowed some. the numbers tell their stories in our absence. little puzzles with pieces too small to see. the vapid arithmetic of biology and consent.

distant thunder. unseen lightning. the anonymous storm growling in the darkness. the price of flesh disrupted by the weight of panic.

we trade our lives on the fictions of perception. narrow rope bridges across stunningly deep chasms.

dog eared pages in the musty cellars of our desire.

the math is stale. the words are vacant. we stole the climax from embers and twigs.

each moment a thief. as time drew its map. And washed away all the debt we had mistaken for riches.