Into the raw throb of now,

You suddenly materialize, standing there without cause, without explanation

Why now? Why tonight?

My head hurts just thinking about you

You, who explode my every whim into nothingness … with a laugh.

I, evaporate, but not before

You’ve poured me into your wine glass and taken a few sips of my

breathlessness,

The heady silence has you grasping. Just for a moment.

Until you pull down the window shade of your face and wait for your pale smile to return.

But it is too late. The truth, dressed in its nonchalant fedora and slick trenchcoat, has just made a run for it, after flashing us both in the alley, and then escaping through a window. And it is running way too fast for either of us to catch it.

So you light a match underneath my incandescence & hope that I won’t notice the flame.

What’s left of me is left smoldering in ashes, squirming under the heat of your words, as you watch the mise-en-scène enfold, like a Peeping Tom.

You squeal, illegally, and then dart into my closet, wildly throwing all my things into the air, accidentally plucking out a silk négligée & robe, which momentarily hover and float like a kite and then land on the bed. You walk out without a second thought.

The ghost of me laughs. The hollow echo follows you down the stairwell, but gets caught in the doorjamb.

You aren’t there to witness the rest.