The Almost

every universe except the one I’m in

Before I knew the word for what I was

there was you,

and I was so hungry

I mistook the hunger for devotion.

Called it love.

It functioned like love

the way a held breath

functions like stillness

something suspended,

something about to give.

I watched you love me

the way I watch everything,

from the place behind the place,

and I w…