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Symbiosis

I will stretch the fitted sheet over the final corner of your bed

But then let me have a little rest

I walked all the way home and then retraced my footsteps

No, of course not, I was just outside having a cigarette

Reciting the first twenty-one lines of the Canterbury Tales

People will believe anything, we are all so polite


If you lie very still, I can press the wrinkled linen of your undereyes flat under my fingertips

Twist fine strands of your hair between thumb and forefinger

Lick pale skin of your parting

You’re going to be bald soon my darling

But there are drugs for that, I think

Tell me how it was only yesterday that you had a gap between your teeth


I slide crescent fingernail painted pink under the scab on your chin

Cut yourself shaving, did you? Slipped, did you? Peeled yourself like ginger

Three years ago I was told that I had to kill a pig in the morning

When I woke up bacon was already hissing in the pan

I’ve heard that pigs scream like humans do

If your t-shirt lifts I see your sunburned stomach and lose my appetite for ham


Hello, you delightful parasite. Coffee or tea?

I only started vomiting up thin liquid after I called you that night

Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous!

That’s Einstein, you know

Who am I to kill the mosquito suckling at the vein on my wrist?

I can spare a little blood


A Mere Occurrence