One Couple

Most coupling is no safe bargain, Unhinged by disappointments past, sun rays lost to unbottled complaining But we're two currents that flow in tandem, Well aligned smart people torn along the fault line of searching, With complicated layers of history rejecting the trash fire of motel affairs, Ideally positioned in flirting blueprint of discovery A blunt force, the underside of desire in a new age strategy for lifeline distancing Self control a virtue, wistful in taking it slow Our litmus test of values, comforting flavors of reasonable risk What's the alternative? the poisonous panic of a thin future a body blow alone no strategy for freshness no pull of familiarity Both of us wanting the empty space of unscrambled direction Both shabbier solo, like the spent vigor of cut roses Both knowing that the world has shifted under us Our outstretched arms that beckon the debris of upended living Our cookie jar reach deferred, for now. Poem revised: January 19, 2021