Shared spaces (1-25-24)

Your things, purposely left or not

Are scattered around my room

We say goodbye, you drive off

And I’m left with the remnants of you

So I claim what’s yours

I claim it as shared space

I slip your forgotten ring onto my finger

I slide my body into your old t-shirt

I crawl back into bed, warm from you

From us

The heat of the night and our bodies pressed firm to each other still lingers

I don’t wait to cool down 

I crawl back into the oven while it’s still hot and I let it cook me

And I don’t move

Not when the sweat makes my clothes stick to me

Not when my skin turns red and angry

Not even when I’m a blanket toss away from the fans icy fingers

     I 

           Don’t 

                        Move

Because just 15 minutes ago this was ours

This moment, this heat, this bed

Ours 

And I want to soak it up

All of it

So I will

And that’s how I sleep

The heat scratching at my skin, the fan warring just feet away, a pillow clutched tightly to my body and my pleading thoughts of “come back. Stay. Just five more minutes”

Five more minutes

In our shared space