i don't think you meant to say it that way

i do think the toes of your words

caught the heel of your intentions

– and while you were able to catch yourself

you lost the anonymity of even measured steps;

habitually cautious and deliberate.

i know i was lucky to catch you stumble;

you and i are too often like two seagulls

squalling back and forth –

really leaning into it.

but today i was listening

and as i drove away,

wheels beating the pavement to a froth,

i heard again

your accident,

candor lending a third dimension

to simple sentences.

and i felt as though i might spill the egg of sun

out of it's careful place

balanced in the concave of a spoon

whose long neck extended

right up to me

in my '93 Buick Century.

do you mean it as a compliment afterall

when you tell me how much we are the same?

i do have your nose,

short legs,

innate pessimism...

so it made sense.