theplantnews
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