to lose my ears

sneaking through forbidden archives in blue light on the plane. I read the texts / our words we trusted time to take. there are curses conjured by the shapes of your name alone. feelings still stir from even the briefest exposure to your pixels. it's a silly kind of poison. your shadow is only ever fingerprints away.

the child in the seat behind me cries on our descent through the clouds. his mother tries to keep him quiet. I hear myself and remember how it felt to lose my ears.