Clear AM

Leaning against the monument in the middle of the night
The glimmering sprawl spread out before us
Air warm, some twenty-three degrees
And the blanket of stars revealed by lack of light
She touches my shoulder and I don’t expect her to be there
Turn back for a moment
She sits by us, legs folded beneath her
— What is this you’ve created?
– Today I’ve not made anything.
Open lips
A firm breeze blows against them
Hair brushed about
– This is what it feels like to be in love.
Is the first translation of it that comes to mind
We don’t say anything then
In the car for the long way down
She sits quietly in the back
Listening to the banter between myself and my best friend
Staring out at the trees that flank the road
And the lights of the sprawl in the distance
– This is where I live.
I think to her
She looks at me in the mirror
An unblinking stare
And I feel she’s permitted me into some private part of herself only Vroenis goes
I don’t think on what it means
Reach up to my shoulder
Eyes on the road
I feel her hand on my fingers
Intertwined