I/YOU

your
fingers dig deep into the heart

                                                          of my palms.

YOU: Go big or go home.

I: [laugh, and
shrug] between international prestige and noodles, I’d go for noodles any
day.

YOU: [hissing,
lips kissing the negative space between us] it’s not just prestige.

I: Neither is it just noodles.

you stare
at me with bleary eyes.

YOU: We can get noodles any time.

I: So can we get international prestige-

YOU: This is about us.

you
release my hand, and move away.

I: This has got nothing to do with me.

YOU: It’s us.
We’ve come so far-

I: I don’t want to go any further.

you sigh,
and run a hand over your fringe.

YOU: Why won’t you actually listen? Tell me what you see.

I: What do you mean-?

YOU: That’s what I mean. You don’t see me, and you
don’t want to try looking at it-

I: You could go with someone else.

I/YOU: But either way it shouldn’t matter.

you trap
my still hand in yours (cold fingers).

one, two,
three, four, five-

he, she,
him, her-

you,
your, yours-

I, me,
my-

us

(our-

us)

If I were
to sum you up in a word, it would be ‘lucid’; your thoughts are clear, and you
know where to turn, which junction to stop, how to walk, and how to wait. But
there are some things you cross anyway without asking, and it isn’t your fault
that my words are dysfunctional traffic lights. Except that maybe it is,
because sometimes, your clarity erases my dream and leaves me hanging in limbo.

Sometimes
I lie awake next to you, under your arm, paralysed.

(The

Lights)
keep

Blinking,
and the

Shadows
(of your arms)

Fall
(against my chest) again

I: [shut my eyes]

WHILE THE WORLD: [lights up]

AND YOU: [stay silent]

THOUGH
THE TABLE: [creaks]

LIKE
QUESTIONS: [mark the seconds of our wait]

THE
DINER: [is barely alive]

BUT THE
DINNER: [is undecided]

YOU: I’ll
take the carbonara.

I: I’ll have
the same.

THE
WAITRESS: We’re out, sorry-

YOU: I’ll
take the macaroni.

I: What
else is there?