December 1, 2022 - “I am dreaming of you in unspectacular ways” by Elizabeth Lerman

I am dreaming of you in unspectacular ways. You call me, tell me the plot of a movie you can’t remember and ask me if I’ll watch it with you. You say you used to love it and want to see if you still do. You are thinking about time and how strange it is, how crooked it’s all starting to seem, and you are in front of me now, I am trying to tell you the title but words don’t work right here and when I don’t answer fast enough you start to walk away and I am sinking then, trying to tell you, wait, I am right here. I want to say please, want to beg like I never have before, but something mutates in my mouth, melts the moment and folds me into it, making me look, for a very long time, at the quiet way I let people leave.