how do they glide together
as if they’re meant to - after years
of haphazard arrangements, scattered like
pins across the basement floor -
he creeps in the dark
feels for sharp stones amidst the sand
and pop ring-pulls still sticky with cola
across the tunnel, a half cone of light
collides with bent oak beams
and so keeps the walls from collapsing
rats purr, curled like socks fresh from the wash
their fur picked clean of grease and lice
undisturbed by his journey
and here, at the other end
she wonders what time he will arrive
and what he will be wearing
and will he ever tell her what it is
she needs to know.
as if they’re meant to - after years
of haphazard arrangements, scattered like
pins across the basement floor -
he creeps in the dark
feels for sharp stones amidst the sand
and pop ring-pulls still sticky with cola
across the tunnel, a half cone of light
collides with bent oak beams
and so keeps the walls from collapsing
rats purr, curled like socks fresh from the wash
their fur picked clean of grease and lice
undisturbed by his journey
and here, at the other end
she wonders what time he will arrive
and what he will be wearing
and will he ever tell her what it is
she needs to know.