It wasn’t until I passed the corner
that it hit me
I hadn’t even considered the reaction
even as the words passed through
the soft grey folds
and down to make my fingers tap
the tiny floating keyboard
I hadn’t considered the full spectrum thoughts
the bright range that concertinas into light
I hadn’t considered how quickly language becomes clouds
how it slips its cape from my shoulders
and walks off on its own
barefoot
&
perfectly sure it will be forgiven
I hadn’t considered the invisible jaws
the ones that live inside screens
chewing on anything warm
& shaped like comfort
how a remark can turn
not into fire
but into a sudden geometry
arrowing forward to some other place
I hadn’t considered the way hate
does not feel like fire
not at first
it feels like clean air
like a glass shard coughed up
then it moves through people
like a draft beneath a locked door
finding our softest parts
the thin seams
the places where we were only recently sutured
& somewhere far from me
a stranger reads it
and their face does that small private thing
a tightening I will never witness
a nose twitch of disgust
& the words keep going
like little insects
drawn to the brightest point
until there is only the screen
and in it
my own face
under-lit
long
& dark — —
a mask hung on a mirror
in the dirty bathroom
