exquisite is a word that shouldn’t be used too often

exquisite is a word that shouldn’t be used too often

just enough to soften the blow when it lands from the past

like an old broken postal date stamp trying to reset itself

with great effort but futilely constantly and so ubiquitously

upon us that it’s as if the forge of trauma shapes us the most

except don’t forget pleasures padding out that crucible too

until our mettle is so mixed that liquidity and tight compression

coexist simultaneously in us such that with our right other

we sheathe a black hole sword and wrap gifts in a molten core

sigh like a lanced statue when they bite us on the neck

and let them love us so closely we break our own mold