once i thought we had

a colon

followed by happy moments.

 

our story in

three happy memories

categorized neat paragraphs

one troubled instance

included for variation.

 

then i thought we had

a string of commas

capturing slices of life

 

our story in

several slices or phases

proportioned clear sections

one concise summary

composed for cohesion.

 

yesterday i wished we had

a semi-colon

connecting gendered voices

 

our story in

two gendered faces

presented as perspectives

a writer’s voiceover

uniting the soliloquies.

 

but i found the full-stop

buried between us.

 

you are another sentence.

​

First published in Cathexis Northwest Press, 2019 https://www.cathexisnorthwestpress.com/post/the-essay-of-our-lives