by Matt Jakubowski

I think part of it was that some
of the things I saw as basics
you saw as luxury and if I ever
really wanted you know to cuddle
or buy a nicer lamp something
else in the house would have to wait.

So what ended up happening was
the curtains were left to the moths
and the part of my neck I most liked to be kissed
was waiting and wanting until such time as you and I
had scrimped up enough to afford something
to keep the dawn light out of the bedroom.

But I found out that even after
we’d saved up and waited to pay the
cost to finally afford this new thing
I still ended up waiting at dawn and in
the afternoon and just before midnight

for some moment when you might
finally lean over and kiss me along the lines
that lead to my heart, which was yours
one of your basics, left to spoil as if it were
some kind of luxury beyond your means.

Matthew Jakubowski’s erasures appear in 3:AM Magazine, his fiction is forthcoming from Milk Candy Review, and his latest piece of criticism appears in Hopscotch Translation. He is online at mattjakubowski.com and @matt_jakubowski.