999 Z26

knew the word placement
how to introduce
a couple so that the vowels
didn’t go up against rough
letters and sound hard
on the throat

if people had introduced me
and her
I imagine they’d put my name first
hers is softer
beautiful
compared to mine
but that’s just an idle thought

in the past
we had photos
where we looked like dating
show contestants
staged and standing far apart

in our private photos
she sat on my lap
me grimacing at the computer
her smiling
with hair curling at her shoulders