Pauses. Poem by Kim Dang

Etch hard into this tree our names and fling away the broken charcoal
Here, let me bandage your scrapped palm with scattered orphaned foliage
I will be here still to silent your cramped sobs, lessening the jerking motions of your back
I will shoo away the starved bumble bees that crowd around your cranium
And gently muffle the hive that hides within your floating clouds.

Decimate the voices provoking speechless glances out your dorm room window
bury your porcelain trust in me.
I will provide the warmth on your back while you turn away, waiting.
Lagged in real time, halted by clinging words of a possible 'what if', my poor baby.

Memories leak from infrequent pauses, but they are pauses nonetheless
They disarm me.
And I know the veins on your neck they throb, more often than not, sensitive.
From toxins drawn on needles dripping drops of saline I provide.
I read the labels wrong, sometimes.

In my world you're visibly there, you're present next to me.
Comforting fingertip strokes, I feel each five gently climb over mine.
On knuckes, on watches and metal on skin. On corners of elbows, the sharp end of my wrists.
Kissing my ivy green lines.
Sensations brought about in my pauses.
My window glancing pauses, time stops.



And then... I breathe.



It's 2 O'clock, time for class.