'sometimes it's hard to sleep' she replied.
and thousands of miles away he decided that he would spend every hour she was awake thinking about her. hoping for some telepathic miracle. every morning reading the spilt coffee grounds for news of his distantly tired love. every afternoon sending bottles filled with babies breath and chamomile tea out to sea. every night chewing the morning coffee grounds to match her anti-sleeping patterns.
but on an ocean of oil and ink, she still couldn't sleep. and he still couldn't dream of her.

14 months at sea with lifetimes to go. constant staring contests with the horizon leave irises bleached and dreams lucid. 3 chipped mugs full of spiced oriental firewater a day. 16 trunks full of 43% clothes and 57% moths. 5 blank paged books. except for the 1 sentence.
'dark is filled with card games with ghosts and light with coffee ground messages and whale toothed smiles.'
turn every bone in your body around. don't look back. eventually the ship will disintegrate due to high percentages or salt in the water.
then.
you can stop.

distillery towers go up and you run away. dew settles and rust puddles. the sun goes down and is chased up by tire yard rooster calls.
34% of a lifetime later. the alcohol has rusted through the towers north and northwest framework. you chase after the one you ran away from.
should you stay .in. the stolen shopping cart the crippled fire escape the mattress surrounded by studio lights the blood stained bus the plague filled 5th story room.
the problem is/was/will be.
'you never understood love'

radio ghost records float through the dusty air. black lace and empty cigarette holders are washed away in contraband whiskey rivers. pupil-less eyes run up walls made of dirt and glitter. thousand toothed mouths light matches with one smile.
faded choruses sing.
turquoise feathers melt.
electric smoke settles.
the phonographic telephone rings.
'when are you coming for me?" and echo on line twenty three said.
then. a city wide black out and a dial tone.

7996 km away. separate hands grew from small to large. blue eyes thought about of green eyes.
10 518 975.3 minutes later blues eyes looked at green eyes. ukulele strings and tea cups. rabbit dreams and fox tails.
within 5 063.2511 hours there was going and coming. blood and bare skin. smiles and bite marks. traps and chases.
75% of a year after that. sense memory and knife fight scars. green eyes looked at blue eyes.
.the love existed in the past present future.

water filled air and floating deserts. the 2am rooster crows and you walk home with an armful of dead magnolias and decks of cards. at 4.49am elongated fingers pull the 3 of hearts. the moon deflates but the sun doesn't come up.
'you're in all of my nightmares and all of my dreams'.

'no matter what. wherever we are. i will always be only 72 hours away from you'
he said to closed eyes and shed skin and bared boned hands. dust dripped out of the kitchen sink and he left.
3/4ths of a year later. between dueling pistol smoke and mouthfuls of swamp water. open eyes blinded by the southern sun engaged in a 192 hour staring contest. old love letters were burned in one corner of the room and new ones written in the other.
'i never meant to hurt you' she said as he forgave all of her lies.