Another One – Adeline Swartzendruber

December 24, 2024

Sitting sick beside you I try to write a poem about the time I fainted in your kitchen as if
it happened in zero gravity: the soy sauce on the counter floating up to meet me,
followed by the counter itself, and then your hands.

But the poem won’t float. Everything comes crashing down like a cartoon piano
falling from the sky, clunking. So I take the broken planks of wood
and erect a monument to my own cruelty — Yes, another one.

Let’s reenact all the betrayed trust falls and each time I’ll
outline your body on the floor with chalk. We can spend the rest of our lives
on tip-toe, walking only in what narrow space is left between my precious drawings.

If we’re lucky, we’ll have just enough room to kiss