i’ve had better responses to mirrors

hunched on a brokeback couch
with a clutched cigarette
i get what he was going for
but when i read poetry
i want something more sensory
or emotional
he says, it was emotional for me
but these emotions are new
and nameless and abstract
i’m not annoyed
some people don’t like cilantro
or yellow, or swimming
but it was like reading a photo album
the pictures are pretty
but i feel nothing
i smell nothing
i can’t taste it
looking down
for the first time
i notice age spots on my hands
so i walk to the bedroom
and leave the door open
while i change into a turtleneck
and high-waisted jeans
it feels like a book of liminal spaces
he says
like hallways
that’s what i love about it