ROMANCE

Romance is the moment that we almost kissed but didn't
I said, It hung between us for years like Grandma Moses
an awkward picture in the foyer of our friendship 
faces half-shadowed and expressions half-caught
the magical snowflake of tension that we can't catch

You said that romance is walking down a road
your hands brush accidentally
and catch hold as the road goes on
where it's going

-Like the road past my grandmother's house, I said,
That we walk down every Christmas
asphalt under the trees and
tar melting down by the river in the summer
wild weeds and impatiens in a ditch-

Yes, like that, you said.