Reply guy

Your words make me cringe

MSNBC liberal cis male guilt

But your voice.

The way you don’t even say hello

When I answer your call

Just my name

Full stop

Carriage return

A sentence drunk on baritone

obliterates the fact that you

can’t let go of what Elon did that day.

Your voice unglues me

When we argue at dinner

Because you have to be right

And I love to be told no.

You say I am more of a man than you are

Maybe that’s why

She is soft in your throat

An ellipsis of commitment that follows

I wonder if she’s heard you say my name.

Your loud smile

Turning up the first syllable

an implied danger

Followed by 2am languor

Fractions of silence between how it ends

And begins

Our names get intertwined

all vowels