Day 11 of 30

A SIGN OF GOOD WRITING (For Brook Stephenson, especially since the homie Tyehimba Jess won the PULITZER in Poetry. I’m sure he’s smiling.)

there was a period

when i spoke of you

thought of you in this way

like your life was parenthetical

an aside or perhaps elided

an open em dash to illustrate

an interjection or interruption

but perhaps

you were such a complete

sentence supreme subject

verb agreement

spun effortlessly by a hand

so unseen so unwilling

to compromise on

perfection

that a period

felt more like a puncture

to the lungs of us left

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