Provisional
When he procured her, she purveyed him. When he rationed her out, she made him provisional. On being provisional, he made her his trough. On being a trough, she made him her silo. At once a silo, he made her his cut. On being a cut, she made him her utensil. On being a utensil, he turned her downhill. So being downhill, she made him her skis. When she was his stethoscope, he was her steady beat. From beat she was dog, from dog he was fetch, from fetch she was jab, from jab he was fake. When he was her complex equation, she was his simple math. So she turned him into strong evidence, accessory after the fact. So he turned her eyes private, made her his man on the lam. So he became her psalm, so she became his scrubby tract. When he became an aesthete, she became his claw-foot bath. So she made him a rudimentary fault line; so he made her a volcanic rim. So she made him her unruly quorum; so he made her his party whip. That's when they both became mirror, and then both became lips. From lips she was trumpet, from trumpet he was mute. Then he made her his margin of error. Then she made him stet.
Copyright © 2010 by Catherine Bowman. Used with permission of the author.