all · ya'lls

she wears her subtlety like a heart on her sleeve
and rings down the curtain
I'm still caught by the improbability of being
this is breath, this is breathing
and it's something I don't need.

she is telling me how it is, in no uncertain terms
but really, it's a story
this is the beginning, that is the end
and somewhere in the middle I woke up
I caught hypothermia. I descended into shock.

this is another thing I don't believe in.
this is not worth my time. this is
the improbability of belonging and why,
I think, I keep myself so far apart
this is the sadness of the nighttime, rushed forward into day

she is a 24-hour believer
her belief holds the sun in the sky
so shadows never turn.
we rejoice in the daylight, it's midwest Alaska
I'm a part-time penitent, and I'd say I'm sorry
but again and again it just comes out, "I."