Human Fear

[tallonrk1]

And again
I divert my eyes to my phone
when there is nothing left to say to him.

These wet sidewalks,
a cold wind falling out of the clouds.

This human fear
of the uncontrollable.

And he presses the up-arrow
on the thermostat.
Says he always hated this cold—
the way we keep to ourselves
and hide inside of our coats.

He tells me that he loves penguins—
the way they huddle around each other
so that no one has to freeze.
He calls it humility:
like letting go of “control”
and working with what you have.

He places his freezing hand upon my own,
tells me it’s just
like letting go.

And he takes his hand away,
sits down at his laptop.

I look out the window—
these wet sidewalks
falling out


I tell him
that Pittsburgh never wanted me here.

And again
I divert my eyes to my phone
when there is nothing left to say to him.

This human fear
of the human—

the way we’re told to love each other
but keep affection to ourselves.

So I put my phone in my pocket,
wrap my arms around him
and tell
myself
that it won’t always be this way.

[prendrelemick]

This is really good . It feels so personal and human and at the same time profound.

This human fear
of the human—

the way we’re told to love each other
but keep affection to ourselves.

I look forward to reading more of your stuff.

[YesNo]

I also enjoyed it especially the penguins' humility of working with what they have.

[bessecar]

Yes I liked this,tallonrk1. It recreated a whole new imagined world for me just through the perception of a relationship - and that's clever!

I love the way the outside "I look out the window—" is present yet doesn't impinge itself too much and adds to the general atmosphere. Nice work.

[Delta40]

I really enjoyed this too. A wonderful depiction.