Neuroscience Poem by Camilla Keenan Koch

he brings the dark
and I watch it fall
light that is sad and sick
dying in his hand
and if we live all night
I won’t have to fear the morning
anymore.

We were holding hands so long
that I felt the midnight sky
in your touch
nervously sparked sensations of
depth and movement
faded quietly into the shadow
of completeness
As one can only see the stars
after first knowing the
black and endless universe
enclosed within your palm
Holding on to you
has all the weight and warmth of
Terra Firma,
or a cool night’s clothing
And nothing to do with
a space without heat and breath, or

Life
but I feel myself shudder and darken
at your touch
till I grow so accustomed to feeling you,
that I cannot feel you anymore
and again so accustomed to feeling nothing that,
hand to your heart,
I would swear:
I can feel my hand in yours
As much as you
As much as I feel your hand on mine.

If you move at all
the friction may burn my skin
and light my life on fire
but as much as I want to watch the
flames’ ruination,
I can’t move until I understand
how you make the sun set
in the palm of my hand.