Highlighting.

That’s how I take life in

I highlight quotes

Or words in a book

Trying to keep them with me

Forever.

I mentally highlight the things people do,

Trying to understand their reasoning

But I can't highlight you.

spore pulsing

in fertile dark

dark-eyed junco nesting in lilies

fern nesting in fern nesting in fractal

curled selfward in a repetition

that is, to the naked eye, endless

identity matrix

Locks with no key still have purpose,

An essay will have more say.

A sports car gets more attention,

And always first is A.

Aunty’s green card was approved

lucky she says

right before they tightened

immigration

and the world became a paper map

with a hand clamping the oceans

paper crumpling and

colorful blobs of land

choked apart