the space between
he says: let’s write together, our story
four hands etch the page at the same time
scrawl everywhere, two sets of script
hardly distinguishable, the biros blur. we tell
a version of our past, in turn, side-by-side
on the page as if to fill in the gap of the other,
finally finding out that what we thought we
knew was true. he says: these characters
aren’t us, you know that right, and he’s not
wrong, not entirely. we cast ourselves in
pronouns that shift the line, split roles in
black and white. he: taller, me: shorter. our
arms mesh, I need to get to his side
of the page. I turn on my front to hide
my excitement, of what it’s not clear but
as the tale inks out of the pens it feels like release
Christopher Lloyd (he/him) is a writer and academic. His pamphlet, Pick Up Your Feelings will be published in 2024 by fourteen poems. Chris is the author of poems, stories, and essays that have appeared in Action, Spectacle, PERVERSE, Fruit Journal, Lighthouse, &Change and elsewhere.
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