I wake up early and you’re the first thing I think about (a delightful nudge)- as if I’m trying to exist in the same day you’re in for as much time as possible before you inevitably traipse in to tomorrow without me.
I wake up early and I devise how I’ll love you with my hands today (a pious prayer to a future in which we’re not only occupying the same day but the spaces between your fingers fill mine- the hands that have crafted you a life in your absence).
I wake up early and I will your mail to arrive- that my fingers might find you where you are and give you an ounce of the tenderness I’ve been building you. Give you the reach of my hands in yours while you chase tomorrow and I’m stranded in today.
(The spring giving way to your fall- my hands can bend through a disjointed timeline)
12″ X 26″, ballpoint, gouache, and acrylic on secondhand paper, 2023
Kellyann Marie 