what you think and what you say
the baby in her chest isn't even round yet
she's in the kitchen busily
and we're on the couch with your most serious face

i need a friend right now,
my life is changing.
mine, too, i say
and we don't have much left,

except my name, which hangs on your lips
in a way much newer than it has before,
as though you were saying it
for the first time.

slinging my bag over my shoulder
and moving to leave, you want that i
stay for the dinner she
is preparing. i smile silent, no,

and walk towards the door
and let myself out as you stand in the frame
like a very lost child
who cannot move either forward or back.