Cesario by Kayla McAuliffle

Cesario

by Kayla McAuliffle

He said:

I wish I could just be attracted

to you; how straightforward

life would seem,

I stepped over

a crack in the sidewalk.

The silence between us compelled me

to respond.

So

hiding, as always,

behind a sisterly affection,

I chided his oversimplification:

Wouldn't we, even, fight

over the TV remote?

A smile broke the solemnity

of his profile.

Who argues over television?

I don't know.

Some people.

We passed a man sitting beside

the Rite Aid pharmacy still and pallid

who looked already dead.

We wouldn't, he said.

I rolled the familiar taste of sadness

around in my mouth and swallowed it.