CM Burroughs

THE REST, ABRIDGED

½ came for a whole weekend.

½ met ½ at the door.

½ dropped his bags; he became 1/3.

1/3 kissed ½ hard on the lip, grabbed

½’s whole hand. They were 5/6.

They were near perfect. “I feel full

when I’m with you,” he said. ½

grabbed his bags as ½ led the way

to her apartment where there was

one bed, and most nights ½ thought,

“Where is the rest? There must be more,”

gazing one-eyed at her 1 arm, 1 leg, and

half-skin (you could see ½ of reproduction

from the right angle.) ½ and ½ went for

Thai and, together, finished a whole dish.

Back home, they split the 10-minute

shower limit. (Water was rationed

that summer.) These halves kept clean

and close, and copulation was the careful part.

Always side-to-side.  Here is the miracle:

their nostrils bridged; the chest cavity closed;

their pelvis bound like the tangled horns of rams.