What do you say when both here and two hundred
———and twenty latitude degrees away

no one lines up on the bottom of the sea
———to rescue coral reefs, the coasts full of

people driving, windows up and music on.
———Once you ran to the waves the moment you

arrived, squealing with pure delight below the
———sharp cries of excited gulls, the tide out.

The past now overlays or underlies,
———never equal in the split screen of the

heart. For who were you then, and who was I, off
———in separate universes, still on

our distinct planets but somehow revolving
———around one another like electrons

circling a greater force. I stroke your hand, you
———touch my face, a billion galaxies of

invisible dust in between, common as
———dander. Waves lap, the sound of construction

somewhere always in the background, average
———as a taxi’s horn or a barking dog.

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Sandra Kolankiewicz has had over 300 poems and stories appear in reviews and anthologies, most recently in New World Writing, BlazeVox, Prairie Schooner, Bellingham Review, Gargoyle, Prairie Schooner, Fifth Wednesday, ArGiLo, Per Contra, and Pif. Turning Inside Out won the 2008 fall Black River contest at Black Lawrence Press. Finishing Line Press published The Way You Will Go and will soon release Lost in Transition. When I Fell, a novel about aging and time travel, with 76 colour illustrations by Kathy Skerritt, is available from Web-e-Books and will be coming out in book format.