AJ Huffman’s most recent poem to appear here was Diversity Rules (February 2011).

[E]Motional Vacancies
By AJ Huffman

I watch you in the mirror. Hoping
our eyes will meet. In reflection,
we appear nearer than
we actually are. Objects
and objections distorting. Until
we are scaled to fit neatly inside
each other[‘s lives]. A perception
of connection hovers at the edge
of distance. Is that really so far
to fall? I remember you
in a different frame: closer but still
closed. But which is rationality?
Conception is the final goal
of futility. Bursting [with] dreams,
I blink and the instant is gone. You are
intervisioned with another scape[goat].
I shepherd myself back to sanity. Tomorrow
will beget another chance at granting
intimacy. Though by image or imagery
still waits to be answered.