[Bridget Barkan]

Depth over distance every time, my dear
This tree of ours will grow tall in the woods
But it's the roots that will bind us here
To the ground

Depth over distance is all I ask of you
I may be foolish to fall as I do

Still, it's the strength
In the blindness you feel

If you're coming, too
If you're coming, too

[Alysia Harris]

My nail beds are still painted eggplant for you
The eggs on your plate are hard scrambled
Morning, my time comes a bit too early for your blind eyes, for your capable heart
So I snuck over the sun buttered mountains
Barely spotted your town of 9000
Entered your storied home and kicked off the snow
Let your Old English Mastiff’s, all 240 pounds, bark in my face
lick my black nylons from knee to thigh

The marble kitchen permanently smelled of cilantro.
And your hands were huge
With one thumb nail for strumming Flamenco, baby,
I could’ve danced for you all night
Feet like pearls aglow in the lights of your lavender candle
There was the labor of music coming from your room

When you locked us in
When you looked at me like my first name was “Now”
My body instantly visible and pliable
We were naked and raw and it didn’t feel wrong

Our hips like a tide
There was a sea beneath us
Carrying the sort of love nonsense we spelled on sheets, cleft notes and
time signatures and treble, treble, treble

The first night, you weren’t supposed to undress me, but you did
I couldn’t resist either
Just like, just like the first time I grabbed your hand ten minutes after meeting you
It was like this right here, this artist,
this Autistic genius, this flawed beauty,
this man who plants lilacs
and drinks vinegar in the morning so
it wasn’t surprising how quickly it all went sour.

You wouldn’t draw me when I asked you to.
Instead you inappropriately used the nib of your calligraphy pen to split boxes
To sculpt the underside of silence
And when you said my name over a bowl of cooling soup it lost all its definition.

I knew you were in love with a vision, just not the woman attached
I was afraid to say the wrong thing
To speak strongly
Our last night together, you spilled your ink on the page
I rushed to fill the space with words

We were too holy to bathe
If for an instant the truth is absurd then
Amen to it, and amen to us
I didn’t care whether you were white and skinny
Whether you lived in Oregon or not

Hell, I wanted you.
Didn't need a reason, didn't to need to make it rhyme

All I needed was a one way heart
And a west coast flight
And I’m not asking you to change your mind
Just, just think about the depth when you remember the distance.
How 3000 miles is not longer than the moments spent between us.

[Bridget Barkan]

Hold on, wait until that love
Breaks from the arms of the Lord

Hold on, though we may be too young
to know this, right or wrong

[Alysia Harris]

Our next fight came quick on the heels of my return.
You didn’t call to say you missed me.
You didn’t call to say you cared.

And just like that, we were over. Easy.
I half laughed. Half cried.

Didn’t know if it was the jet lag or if I had just gotten used to sleeping in late and calling you mine.
But the whole time, your bed was low and flat
Scarcely six inches off the ground
At any point, I could’ve stood to my feet
And walked away.

[Bridget Barklan]

Depth over distance every time, my dear
And everybody's back here acting like a storm
But still, there's things i'd do for you, my darling
I'd go blind for you

If you let it grow sometimes
If you just let it grow
Let it grow
Let it grow
Let it grow, sometimes

Let it grow
Let it grow
Let it grow, sometimes

Hold on, wait until that love
Breaks from the arms of the Lord

Hold on, though we may be too young
to know this, right or wrong