How to Survive Long Distance

Step one:

Drive halfway to a highway near clumsy Arizona

and never stop.

Scribble charcoal loneliness on a canvas. Frame it.

Make homemade honey.

Smoke menthol cigarettes like a thunderstorm.

Step two:

Call often. Pace empty apartment. Pretend he never actually left but

stayed.

Go out for the interaction and a coffee.

Check out The Catcher in the Rye from the local library.

The last vow and the honey moon and the first deployment

ache like evergreens.

Step three:

Float on the blessing of a cotton hammock like you left off punctuation.

Learn how to knit. Perfect that caramel latte you’ve been working on.

Check temperature,

bath under a sunrise,

blush at wild flowers.

Step four:

Remember the trees of all the streets you drive which are skeletal

-there are none

Countdown to arrival and adventures

Rejoice wildly considering dark days but don’t dance all alone.