The Box
Claire Scott

Your box just arrived
thank you! thank you! thank you!
I am thrilled you remembered our special day
the day we finally met at Saul’s Café
after too many back and forths on OKCupid
comparing notes on politics, nail biting,
ice cream flavors and toothpaste
finally a chance to see we were perfect together
like a box and lid you said
so thrilled you are no longer upset at my minor indiscretion
after a few gin and tonics
(actually more than a few)
a few kisses on the sly
(definitely more than a few)
I was a bit worried when you walked out
afraid you had     left me
for good.

The box says some assembly required
what fun
I eagerly pull off the lid
hundreds of plastic pieces inside
cylinders, cones, cubes, spheres, prisms, pyramids
most smaller than my thumbnail
an instruction manual over a thousand pages
printed in Japanese or is it Mandarin
figuring it out beyond impossible
I can’t get the lid back on
I sit in stunned silence
facts return to their upright position
in the afternoon’s hard light
in the film version music fades
as the light grows less
over     it is over
for good.

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