quotation

and i am
awed at the way we talk
inside of the words of others
our own words coded in the lore
of those before us
the two of us breathing fire
through the singed hides
of our past
and yet–
you are a new verse
one that i cannot
bracket
one that i cannot
contain
nor would i want to.

instead, i will say the word
“map”
as i explore how the parts of
my cartography
meet the parts of
your cartography

we knew each other before this
a quotation in oak or ink
something that was always written.