These Things Fall Apart

Published in Issue 40.2 of Pennsylvania English.

cable knit sweaters
sobriety— books
become invertebrate

driving inland
the farmers are ploughing seagulls

you are self-taught. see—
you can fetishise jealousy.
you like the diners with the
red booths. free wifi.

over dinner
deconstruct you like my burger.
you run your teeth along the zipline between
sincerity and irreverence.

you and i,
we tiptoe when it counts. i prefer hotel rooms—
occupying someone else’s space. you like
your coffee without sugar; your men
without the time of day.

i vow to hold you in silence
in december and in gentle deliberation—

independent
and in fear.

driving inland,
you electrify me.

spine and spitfire stuffed behind the wheel.

you press the accelerator a little too hard
and i press the brake.

Pennsylvania English is a literary journal published by the Indiana University of Pennsylvania. You can buy Issue 40.2 here.