we are all paragraphs, held close in trembling hands
and spilled out of vacant mouths. black lines separating
where we end, and where we begin. we are silver dollars
in jeans pockets, drug addicts searching empty streets
for the next fix. ashes to ashes,
we all
fall
down.
you will know us by the way silk dresses shed like petals
from our bodies, how our eyes glow in the dark like cats
at a movie theater. you will see us everywhere,
anonymous and invisible yet completely whole. we are the ones
at the laundromat with names like Ruby and Alice and Elena,
the ones with black tees and lace-up boots.
oh, and we are the bedsheets covered in salt and basil,
the first time, the last time.
we are all a thousand fragrant sentences poured out with the milk.
you will see us, one day,
and you will know who we are. but until then, we will continue
to hide in your shadow.