Four Moments

By Alisha Foster

PROMPT—I am grateful for ...

Seeing you for the first time shocked me—

Like seeing someone I thought was dead.

I forgot myself, crowded over to touch you

This alive person, surely a trick of the light.

You asked me why I was so slow to respond.

I couldn't explain it, then, to myself or you

But here is how I felt each time the screen lit up:

Incredulous, like when I flew in a dream.

You stood, uncertain, two realities reconciled

The joiner of my past and future,

So much weight I didn't want you to feel,

The weight of me, so I removed myself, and split you.

I can't stop thinking of death—

Of touching you. I believe you exist now

So I will remember myself

Then see if I can dream you again.

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Alisha Foster is a 28-year-old writer and project manager living in San Francisco, CA.