Welcome to this quiet nook.

Monday, January 24, 2011

A Very, Very Long One and Our Last

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 24, 2011
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If I try
I can still feel the place
Where the ball of your hand pressed the flesh above my elbow
I could have bent my arm and held you there a little longer
If I could have held you at all
And the spot where I had wedged my shoulder between the door and the frame
Before you pulled me back in
(I had been on my way out of the room, as you will remember)
And my feet, the toe of one shoe awkwardly perched atop the other
And your feet surrounding them, bracing them

I can feel the way my jaw stretched
As though attempting to call forth a note at the tip of my range
Only hurriedly, frantically
As if I were in a race
As if you would have slipped past me had I slowed down even for a moment

It was soft and hard
A sliver of rainbow shot through cirrus clouds
The dull red glow of the alarm clock
Birdsong and melancholy sonatas and breathing
Salt from the chips
And sweetness from the cola you had drunk to wash them down
And that scent of warmth and skin
The scent that tells you that you are very, very close

If I try
I can believe it was, as you said, an accident, an anomaly
One that will never happen again

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