Not-Long Distance

This poem was originally published by WordCity Literary Journal.

It’s easier to love you on paper
where everything is polished up
planned ahead
Where every word walks 
from your hands
to my eyes
and looks a lot like sunset
Looks a lot like a garden
Looks a lot like me

In person
not so much
In person we are messy because our editors took the afternoon off
In person we are rash retorts and butting heads
Missing oxford commas, and dangling modifiers 

In person we are brother and sister
fighting over the TV remote
In person, your words are your thoughts and sometimes they are midnight
Sometimes they are crab grass
Sometimes they are a rickety dock out to sea

I am scared because in person
I look a lot like me