Our Lives, Asynchronous

I sleep with an iPhone clutched in my hand,
soft buzzes stirring me in the dark hours.

We communicate in blips and flashes: e-mails
sailed from nameless cities, text messages slipped

out in quiet moments between meetings.
I download you while drinking my breakfast,

skim you during the morning commute. You
open me up just before the plane takes off, look

at me while elevators rise and fall. I say I want
to hold your hand while I’m buried under books.

You want me under your desk while you watch
television until late. The timelines we unfold

don’t mesh—but in the wireless world wrapped
around us, we stand uneasy, not too close.

 

 

About the Poet:
Josette Torres holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Virginia Tech and a BA in English and Creative Writing from Purdue University. She was most recently published in Artemis and Thirteen Ways. She is a doctoral student in cultural thought in Virginia Tech’s ASPECT Program.

 

 

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