I gave you my best self.
It was a first generation copy of my best self.
The original burst into flame
in my therapist’s office.
Good thing I make a back up
every ten days, overwriting the old backup.
It was the best gift I could think to give you.
I thought it would energize our relationship.
If photos recorded how we would be
ten minutes into the future,
each photo would show us taking a new photo.
Obsessed with the future, we’d forget to live in the present.
Imagine me feeding you a strawberry
slathered with whip cream.
I would do it if that would focus us
on that instant together without tangents or drift.
We would learn to tell time to shove off,
so a romantic afternoon
trickled into an evening, a sunset—
us listening to each other like never before.
copyright © 2020 Kenneth P. Gurney
Umflop 