watermark

i count to three and grin

you smile and let me in

we sit and watch the wall

you painted purple

speech will spill on space

our little cups of grace

but pauses rattle on

about the way that you cut the snow-fencebraved the blood

the metal of those hearts

that you always end up pressing your tongue to

how your body still remembers things you told it to forget

how those furious affections followed you



i've got this store-bought way

of saying i'm okay

and you learned how to cry

in total silence

we're talented and bright

we're lonely and uptight

we've found some lovely ways to disappoint

but the airport's almost empty this time of the year

so let's go play on a baggage carousel

set our watches forward like we're just arriving here

from a past we left in a place we knew too well



hold on

to the corners of today

and we'll fold it up to save until it's needed

stand still

let me scrub that brackish line

that you got when something rose and then receded

hold on

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