for Joe & Sufjan
Outside the theater we stared,
my friend and I.
My face swept
blank, the swift freeze of where I’d cried.
Ears rung, as though through
a snow globe or a diving bell
he told me he had worried he’d seize
at the screaming lights of the last song.
We’re all gonna die.
And I had thought the exact same,
and told him so. We laughed.
I did not tell him
I thought I would never write, sing,
touch again. Or never stop.
Though, knowing him
I was not the only one
smiling through it.
He told me once that his face always
ached from laughing
after he saw me.
So did mine. I’m sorry.
It was always a relief
to be alone again.
