by Marissa Bell Toffoli.
Tell ‘em.
You can command attention
or commend it.
You can commandeer
a verb for destruction
of syntax, sin tax, scene tacks.
Put another red pin in
the landscape. Retrace
our steps? Replace our slips?
Less easy than it sounds.
Stilted. Fractured. Staccato.
Ways to talk about separation.
Instead, insulate against isolation.
Maps never fold up
as cleanly as they start out.
Let me try to say this another way.
Maybe we need to measure differently
before we talk about progress.
Those who can’t rest,
languish. Flip a coin.
Recovery and effort
both require dedication.
I don’t want to sit still anymore
if that’s how we ended up here.
Light ebbs. My voice is rusty.
You can’t trust language
until you can hold its gaze.