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