kindling.

i photograph the moment
our world spits wide
open. she's like no one else,

breaking through numbness,
something sour and vivid
out of the blue sky

bass guitar heartbeat
when she woke up the city
Naota's eyes lit

how he looked at her:
as if something amazing
could now happen here

the robot emerged:
a hole in reality
for something greater

the night split with light.
metal shining like feathers.
like fire. like God.

and our old world was gone.
Naota and i knew
(like i had always known)

he'd never be mine
but that night he sat with me
by the dark water

let me photograph
this still moment, and hold him
as close as i could

sharing day old bread
the city's embers glow bright
beneath the full moon

we warm the chill night
hang our white breath on the air
and sometimes he smiles

(and if he isn't
thinking about me, or me
about him — still, look:)

the evening's charcoal
rekindled and glittering —
warmth in the windows