And it was
There in the
Shower when I
Learned you best
A place of
Nakedness with nothing
Between us but
Water and steam
No clothes to
Hide behind no
World to think
About no place
To be or
Time to keep
We called it
Our safe place
The one place
Where being ourselves
Was the only
Way in and
Only way out
On a prairie
As vast as
An ocean we
Sprout and struggle
Reaching up higher
Lavender and peony
Daisy and daffodil
Sunning like cats
On a windowsill
Each of us
Magnificently alone here
Until invisible vines
Tickle tender torsos
These invasive lovers
These relationships that
Slowly wind their
Way upward eventually
Becoming so entwined
That to pluck
One you pluck
The other too
But not me
I continue higher
Above the rest
Preferring to be
The best the
Tallest robust me
Chosen for beauty
And not simply
Because I’m here
As has happened
To my friends
And now I
Know why I
Dream of you
Beneath the years
Of hating you
Are the hours
Of missing you
But while awake
All I think
About is why
Did we end
But while asleep
All I dream
About is how
We ever ended
Yes you are
My waking nightmare
As you are
My nighttime love
I feel I
Fear too much
Not me feeling
But them not
Living among machines
Moving about doing
What they were
Built to do
I sit silently
And wonder what
Life is like
For these machines
That scurry about
Just barely thinking
The things that
Someone else thought
When making them
I feel I
Fear too much
Thinking for myself
While sitting here
Snow has arrived
Like a million
Tiny white punch
Lines gathering one
Atop the other
Creating a comedy
Which tickles me
Like fingers moving
Across my ribs
Like meeting someone
New yet vaguely
Familiar thinking that
Someone like him
Had brought joy
To me once
And now wondering
And even hoping
If just a
Little bit that
Like a toboggan
We’ll sit slide
And glide over
Life’s hills eventually
Landing somewhere in
A pile of
Snow laughing together
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 