stranger ice

My stomach drops and fizzes with excitement
as I type all those emojis with a happy birthday
and this is probably pretty out of the blue
can't imagine how long I've waited to text you

I had thought before it was over
another casualty of this stupid virus
but here we are, with pixels and screens
making up the blue speech bubbles between

But when I listened to us conversing in my head
I realized we are not saying what we would normally say
and this whole chat is not a conversation between you & me
simply a reflection of who we think we should be

We are more liberal with the jokes we throw out
because the awkward silences have been backspaced
moments I would normally be chuckling all alone
is confined to haha and my side of the phone

We toss in lol's when we aren't really laughing
just as a pickaxe to break up this stranger ice
we've barely skimmed the edge of what friends are
the distance our meandering morning conversation had to go, still far

But for now, these other voices have to be enough
the bubbly words fizzing from our desolation
the hahas and lols will just have to suffice
as we still perseverantly chip away at this stranger ice