Your little elbow

nudges the air

as the raindrops

line up and wait

to fall. I forget

who I was before

our windows floated

away revealing

our drawn-over

selves. Your shadow

kites above us

and whatever we say

forever hovers.

A tornado touches

gently down, black

lightning ignites

a butterfly’s skull.

Your fingers grip

the triggers of long

stemmed flowers

beneath the sky’s

television of rain

broadcasting two

smiling clouds.

Are they us? I ask.

They’re just clouds,

you say, then cut

yourself out.

Copyright © 2019 by Matt Rasmussen. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on May 13, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets