I AM THE IN-BETWEENS

i am the middle ground that settles in semi-political conversations,

so unlikely that the conversation itself is avoided,

not once acknowledged, the elephant in the room dies and begins to rot

the smell of—

i am the closing space between a cigarette and your youthful skin

the smell of it— shut! and out it goes—

and in it twists and burns and

lingers and stains and—

i am the time it takes to fall asleep on a Sunday

the air that turns hostile,

shaping every inch

of everything you wanted

to forget,

all of it!

the girl that you- a girl, too- kissed!

all of it,

here, for you, to see!

all of what you didn’t want to be.

I am here— the in-between

the time it takes and the words she slurs

the sound of it and that smell of hers—

the kiss and cry and blink and spit

the sound of them and the smell of it.