you up?
you think food would taste different
          if you ate it underwater? how long you
                    think magic hour lasts for on neptune?
                              what do you think cellulite would look
                                        like on fish? can you believe olives are
                              a fruit? you ever notice that OM is, okay,
                    yes, the sound of the universe, but also
          the sound literally every little kid makes
when speaking into a fan?
you up? you ever think about how
          english maybe isn’t our first language?
                    the way I’m sitting right now is my
                              first language. the way I bring my
                    hand to your jawline is my first language. the
          way I become movement inside
your hands is my first language.
you up? did your mom ever make you
          talk to shit? my mom imbued life into
                    every corner and crumb of my small
                              world, and now as an adult woman
                                        my heart breaks every time I find
                              an empty snail shell, or for the worms
                    on rainy mornings who aren’t going
          to have enough time to make it to
the other side of the driveway.
you up? you ever feel like when you
          fall in love it’s just this feeling of
                    having known someone before,
                              but also of wanting to find out
                                        how much time you can kill
                                                  counting the pockets and handles
                                        you can make together with your
                              bodies? there’s the age-old that goes
                    love is forgetting about death but
          when I’m with you I also
forget about the internet.
you up? how do you arrange your
          apps, by the way? what’s your
                    favorite shade of blue? sometimes
                              when men talk about themselves I
                                        like to imagine I’m transcribing their
                                                  monologues in my head and I like
                                                            to picture how many page breaks
                                                  I have to make. I file them into a mental
                                        folder called brief interviews with hideous
                              men. but with you I would take the things
                    you say and I would stick them inside a
          leaf book. did I ever tell you about the time
a dude asked me to be his scribe for him?
you up? why are people who love
          each other still sending each other
                    heart emojis when there’s the shooting
                              star emoji? the sunset on the horizon emoji?
                                                  I want to trace an excel sheet over your
                              body and share it with you on google
                    drive. I want to do with you what
          night does to the smell of the
ground by morning.







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Rachelle Toarmino lives in Buffalo, NY
Graeme Shorten Adams lives in Montreal, QC


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https://www.twitter.com/rchlltrmn
https://foreshortening.tumblr.com


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