Untitled

Adrian Cerone

Contributor

distance in years between us

i wave goodbye each night to the

man i was when i lay down

looking for sleep, desperate

beckon it, pray it will come

i mourn the girl alive on my walls

in my mother’s heart, her mouth

stuck at the back of her throat

you, too, are grieving she says

you’ve put distance between us now more than years

i bury myself in prose, badly

i’m okay with that

the distance between me and my every word spoken to you is enormous now but each pool i dive into

i dive into deeper

pulled to the bottom, sinking and deflating my lungs, i breathe in pure gold the water is yellow with

dayfall

farther down i go till i fuse to its mossy bed of grass and garbage people were too scared to keep

from this distance, i am little more than the ripple your finger makes

tapping on your reflection,

the little hearts in your eyes

rushed flow of water, the cries that shake my house

in my tiny room i see every speck of dust with my head crowded in the corner

threatening to break through the window

breathe the glass in like the kisses i’ve never received

and breathe them onto your face, your glitching mouth and nose

i will champion your cause and absorb all the tears you cry into me

and i will revel in the way they mix with my freshwater

swirling at the surface

and i will savor it like the last meal you ever give to me in your presence

you, my executioner