I must have
walked in on something -

be quiet please, they told me
one of them must still have taken pity

a buzzing sound
the orange bulb engaging
ever briefly
as he ushered me aside
turning, explaining
vividly but mellow

this was the very audition for your replacement
as my buzzing sound
as my orange bulb engaging
as my
ever briefly

and my being there
would likely end up to interfere
with the outcome

~

three things I'll
henceforth
be bound to cherish

the whitely collar bone
ever perpendicular
to the foam of conversation at hand

the fishbowls
filled with
tea blended with spirits
and crisscrossing with discharge
of unknown deep-sea species
these airy ecru eyes so easily would render

and finally the smile, which could only be described
as growing up in the countryside
but much hearing thunder from the cities and the furnaces
and churning it with age-old tools
into reassurance


~

so
it took you what - the duration
of the entire kettle for you
to secretly decide
on the proper way for you to think back on this

your chosen narrative
the one of self-deception having ended
that once you thought you loved me
that you must have been mistaken
and something about how the glossy-looking wall-paper
might be coming alive tonight
in gentle wrinkles

every cup you poured
all three of them

sent swirling steam
masquerading in front of your eyes

brought heat
to your thumb and your index finger
making the blood hasten
in a turning back movement to the ventricles
never to be seen

while in the liquid surface
I noticed every passing train
being radically mirrored
in radical
amaranth colors

~

a buzzing sound
the orange bulb engaging
ever?
briefly.
as the door is politely closed behind me