Photo by Anton Darius on Unsplashhow long is a minute
when your face is arched under the weight of
a slap. brawny fingertips yanking your earlobe.
when you’re in tears. you’re in taco bell. you
are at the end of a marathon. end of a poem.
no clock or calendar counts nor contains
shame. oscillating between its weakest pawns.
what is the length of the shortest minute, who
made time. when the old year coughs and moans,
who rewinds. who turns the page. who kills
december. diurnal birds nap at noon
because the day would end anyway. how
long is three minutes. how long is a three-minute song
if its feet are found travelling from your car
to mine. math fails when we are the edifice.
the space between one chakra and the next, that is
joy. to escape the length of a minute
is to deceive time with you.