marine girls

un pain aux raisins &
we have a hundred coats to
take off scarf wrapped round ice hair
cough

it is cold, even indoors
our bones clash against tables

what shall we
bending & flicking each page over
a vague unease

then i watch you across the room
at that moment calm, fluent
on the verge of something

we know so little of ourselves & each other
the working parts, we carry about

soon we’re retelling stories of bad coffee & brokenness

—not in the confidence of finding answers

you give me all the advice
avoid being around people of sarcasm who praise nothing
don’t regret the past but hope for everything that could

& I have questions lining up like stairs
rip apart thunderous bread. 

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