Poem

Where a Space is Counted as a Character 

for Lynn Crosbie

a ledger of characters

surging, insistent, limited

its audit requires

an emotional intelligence

I am careful to listen for

though the reigning preposition

is to

I say to myself -- is to

I say it in Franz’s voice, then in Sophie’s

after screaming at them

“Alice Cooper is not a woman!” 

is too!

and this went on for some time

as gunfire sometimes does

spewing youth, taking it

our block a Sarajevo, with me its Princip

we were eleven when I understood how

in the context of learning what we know

someone could think so

our wars ended 

when the street lights came on

I am drifting again

the platforms encourage it

to stay with anything too long

is to risk an explanation; best to just

STFU, if you know what’s good for you

years later Sophie finds me, emails 

“You should be on Twitter!”

I reply for an hour, then hit delete