small talk

 If we don't 

try harder,

all we have is

the jargon of now

marking time with 

"how are you?" 's

and the distance between

things 

like the shadows of

fence posts

as we go,

the unfelt 

"I love you" ''s

melting us away

until there is nothing

left to say.

We should and do

talk about anything,

the taste of 

that herb we 

can't remember the name of

the wild plants that live in Texas

the shape of Etruscan

pottery

Sometimes the now 

is plastic and 

broken

and it is the only 

thing that

keeps us from being

who we really are.