Hard to say goodbye a bunch
of jumbled words

this freeform
scrabble of knowing our

ups and downs two
poets at the game café

hovering over August
and detonate

this limited time we have
cloaked ourselves

we slap plastic
tiles and yell peel

racing not to say goodbye
I’ve got a few days left

in the parking lot after
we clutch each other

unsure whether to cry
in the authentic light of sunset

(originally published in Freshwater Literary Journal, Spring 2022)