Topography

[katherine_carla]

Topography

#3

Seventeen maps end-to-end,
buried, slanted, upside down.
How many steps to Annecy?
Where is the rock you pressed
your back against? I never knew
how to ask the right questions.
I let the moments pass, fingers
tousling my hair. I'm looking
for relief, the peaks I've climbed
the ones you knew. I want to lean
near the river's mouth and take you
in. My chest a bulging birdcage,
my heart expanding. All I have
is this: your measured stillness,
the landscape of your breath.

#2

Seventeen maps end-to-end,
buried, slanted, upside down.
How many steps to Annecy?
Which way does the water
flow? Where is the rock you
pressed your back against?
I never knew how to ask
the right questions. I let
the moments pass, fingers
tousling my hair. I'm looking
for relief, the peaks I've climbed
the ones you knew. I want
to lean near the river's mouth
and take you in -
my chest a bulging birdcage,
my heart expanding. All I have
is this: your measured stillness,
the landscape of your breath.

Seventeen maps end-to-end, buried,
slanted, upside-down. How many
steps to Annecy? Which way
does the water flow? Where
is the sheltered rock you pressed
your back against? I never knew
to ask the right questions.
I let the moments pass,
your fingers tousling my hair. I'm looking
for relief, the peaks I've touched,
the ones you knew. I want to lean
near the river's mouth and take you in -
my chest a bulging birdcage, my heart expanding.
All I have is this: your measured stillness,
the landscape of your breath.