You are an embarrassment
he said while picking my pockets
vacant I stared idle
in an undisclosed location
Danielle sat next to me
tenderly stroking the inside flesh
of my arm although
we’d only spoken a handful of times
back in grade school, he said again
Nobody likes you, you know
So I just agreed with him because
her fingers felt like grasshopper wings
fluttering through my mind, he
looked a deep sorrow longer
and that’s where he began to cry
I am sorry my friend, I said while he
cradled me like a new born lamb
only I was much bigger than him
so by the end of it it was I who was
more so doing the cradling, then
as he disappeared effortlessly
Danielle and I sat a long while
next to one another, her hair
long dark and full of whispers
while the room filled with necessary strangers
Holding hands for a while she said,
you aren’t that bad you know
he just really loves you is the point
and then too disappeared into a sea of snakes
which I could not swim
while the couch turned to an island
I sat sipping from my cup
the bitter dark liquid I had earlier poured.