One quick step is taken

your strong hands ease up

under my thin peach blouse

like aromatic essential oils

b u t

w a i t

I step

B

A

C

K

and the specks of green in your eyes

turn jade

turn wicked and fearful.

(hence the poem takes a turn)

One step away from you

(1)

I am looking right at you

you refuse to budge. You lock me

in your tight embrace and squeeze

the life out of me till I can’t breathe.

Then I want to run from you

as far away as my giraffe legs will

take me. Then I am at the door

then I am in my car. Then I am

fumbling for the keys but I already

know before I hit the highway and

make sure the distance between us

is unreachable. I know that instead

of being four steps toward you

I am

four steps away, four miles away

and what I know so clearly like the bright

sun entering my car and heating up my soul,

what I know

is that

you never call

or text

or email

like you do not even exist.

Funny enough, I like it that way.

by Christina Strigas