after Ocean Vuong

because no one told us

we could pour

this decade-long night

into our stranded bodies

and call it

home

                     go ahead – call

                     an ache

                     into a name

           answer absent

           a body

           to hold

                                           take time

                                           between two fingers

this now will live

until someone destroys

the evidence

                     now

                     come

                     forge a world

                     that can never hold us

                     together

                                           the voice hums

                                           a wave warm

                                           and blood-close

a moment folds          

under fences

crowded

with loneliness

                   listen: miles

                   are just blankets

                   for wet skin