from Apartment

By Julia Bloch



I say we will have no more marriage

We both think of the Volkswagen commercial
OK so would I be the boy or the girl
I’m betting on both your hands on my ribcage
this is chronicled

They say a dream can misfire in the brain’s eye
create déjà vu from a brand-new story
you do ignite the wrong section of my brain
impress familiar

I’m sore from scaling the face of your concern
the light here honey-colored and disloyal
your larger heart calls you from Palo Alto
I’m sick of the phone

I need a back to this chair and stronger coffee
disperse myself from your already seen memory



I think it’s perfectly clear we’re in the wrong band

I just learned how to pronounce your name
the ‘a’ long but spelled short

you always write in all caps
as if your hand is shouting

I like how my name sounds
as it falls out of your mouth

remember when I said I think you already have
I heard your answer but I didn’t stop

the light on the train ice-colored
we both want you to be here

I’ve lost whole cities from my map
an hour badly spent because it’s only an hour

what if we just happen
especially after all the traffic



Because I know this song & how it will end

my myopic heart decides to write down ev-
ery thing you say from how you like my green shirt
to the indecision you wave before me
in white strips. apart-

ment means I’ve got my eye on your rent control—
sorry to be so crass in my urge to tie
it all together. last night your fingers marked
fugue states as the song

played do you know what it’s like to be hunted?
sorry I asked you to meet me for breakfast
at 26th & South Van Ness but the day
was beginning. and

I wanted to watch you drink coffee. and
in your most frail gesture are things which enclose me