Be/ cause

Nidhi Zak/ Aria Eipe

because nothing is like anything
              else, an approximation will always break
                            down when you need it most

because nothing is as soft as a horse’s muzzle
               at the curve, above quiet punctuations of hair,
                           thin pointed teeth guarding tenderness

because I had just been, that morning,
               at my college graduation – looking gorgeous
                            in that dress – where the speaker urged:

I hope you will be vulnerable
                with each other, that you will be open
                             to giving and receiving vulnerability

because he touched me without asking
               saying: you are like nothing
                             I have ever seen before

like how I am touching this horse
              feeling its likenothingelse before, us
                          two silken manes, two hurt mouths

I am so gentle with you between my hands
               but tell me / strike my face / pull away
                           do you not want me to

blow slow into the open black
             tunnel of flared nostril, wet
                        dark animal breathing back

that’s how they kiss – a passing
            stablehand spoke in my direction –
                         and I believed him

                                                                                       I believed him
                                                                  not / because it was true
                                                                  but / because I wanted to