in memory you stand
more perfect than
yesterday
here you come
years later
as I walk down the street
in dreams
snapshots of how
you used to be
and how we used
to fit together
you came at me
always
from a bit of
an angle
one hip higher
than the next
eyes that didn’t
quite know
how to work
with one another
your body walking
your mind around
you always made
sundays last forever
trying to be quiet
as your housemates
slept
back from the kitchen
with muffins and marmalade
the morning papers
your sisters letters
reading me poems
and turning
the sheets
you wrote me
a letter
after your sister died
you couldn’t
find a way
you said
to let me in
couldn’t
find a place
to fit in
my comfort
couldn’t
find a way
to let me in
I saw through
the grieving
it was us
that was
dying
we’d come
to a place
that was no longer
ours
we moved
to the comfort
place
the tears
and alone
place
the place
were friendship
begins and
where
lovers end
both knew
we’d someday
let it all
crash and burn
into the ash
and the killing
fire
too high too fast
to find
the long
way down
too high too fast
to find
the long
winding
slow way
down
knew that
we’d shift
pass silence
and separation
to old friends’ mode
collect-calls-from
husband’s-mode
secondhand stories
from mutual friends
from my window
I can see the street
I see your reflection
looking up
from the sidewalk
I see us finding
the long way
way down
I see us finding
the long slow
way down
in memory
you stand
more perfect than yesterday
nothing
this world
ever was
is
perfect
anyway
nothing
this world
ever was
is
perfect
anyway
nothing
this world
ever was
is
perfect
anyway.