the skip in the sound track
  _____________________________________

          you fell in love with the words
          steady as city tapwater
          sometimes sanitized
          for your protection

          words running between my fingers
          down my palm to drip
          from my wrist
          in your open ear
          to get you in and out of bed

          but when the doctor said
          I could have
          I might have
          we're going to run a few tests

          you heard the silence
          between the words


                    LeeAnn Heringer