Afterhours Cartography

(mmmmm) It's three miles back,

the geometry of staying true

A right angle turned

where I should have walked right through

The streets are dry,

but the clouds are hanging low

Like an unwritten line

that has nowhere left to go

I keep revising the words I sent to you (trying to get

it right) Maybe the math was off,

maybe the cold was true

Now the streetlights bend in a quiet row

Like a hallway light left on when we both go

Another block down, regret becomes the rain

No sudden downpour, just a steady mist of pain

An open window, a static radio screen

Still translating

everything we didn't mean

And there it is—the thought I couldn't face

We built a home,

but we forgot the space

(we forgot the space)

I keep revising the words I sent to you (trying to get

it right) Maybe the math was off,

maybe the cold was true

Now the streetlights bend in a quiet row

Like a hallway light left on when we both go

Just a hallway

light... (left on after midnight)