Three Steps Removed

I told my phone
to tell your phone
to tell your
digital messaging
Happy Easter
as if those words
might resurrect
our friendship.

Express

Paul’s grief
chose not to speak
unable to find
the right words.

He purchased words for his grief
over the internet
but they would not arrive
for two days.

In the mean time
Paul supplied his grief
with his drawing pads
and colored pencils

hoping that
it would create a message
through an art image
before his heart broke.

Paul uncovers himself
for the purpose of reproduction.

This is a self portrait
not yet themed in red or blue.

Look at the pinched aspect of his face.
How clean his fingernails are!

See the flush of his skin.
(His hormones shut down his logic center.)

This is a teaching moment.
This is a learning moment.

The lesson is whether either partner will speak up
and state what they really want tonight.

To trust words and discussion
over subtle body cues.

To grasp if intimate talk about desires
deepens or destroys the mood.

Paul fears that routine
becomes a comfortable set of chains.

He wishes experimentation without the expectation
of getting it all right on the first try.