Cole Archer123

We met like passengers
assigned to the same row
close enough to share armrests,
not a destination.

We lie inches apart,
faces turned from one another,
like two commas in the same sentence
that never connect.

Your back faces mine,
like a locked screen
close enough to touch,
impossible to enter.

The walls utter gossip at night.
They watch new women pass,
different steps, new perfumes,
claiming corners they'll never own.

I've seen a penguin in a trench coat 

Questioning the tide.

I've seen a pigeon on the couch 

Licking chip salt from its wings. 

I saw the waves 
crash over the sand 
where you once sat. 

Your ashes sink 
into the waters 
you once sailed. 

Others desecrate 
the land 
you once found holy. 

If dogs were free, what would they do?

Run for office? Form a chewing shoe coup?

Would they frolic with purpose, protest with glee,