from Projection

But I know that you know how your palms itch when you're alone,
when the electricity goes off,
and the silence whirls in your stomach.
I know that you know how hard it is
to dress in white after wearing black,
to have your arms not merge into the day
but be signs by the road,
and to have nobody, Laurie, nobody travel
down your roads.

From pH Neutral History by Lidija Dimkovska. Copyright © 2012 by Lidija Dimkovska. Reprinted with permission of Copper Canyon Press. All rights reserved.