Per Aspera Ad Astra

A tone. Connection established. Natural light on your face as I try to hide mine. How are you? Pleasantries. Rules to communication. But today I found a hole in my most comfortable shirt and I can’t find the sweater that engulfs me and keeps me inside my own skin. I feel like the yarn is tangled in my intestines and I pull the frayed end that dangles from my teeth like a magician’s trick but now it’s lodged firmly in my throat. How long have I been talking? There’s so much I want to tell you. How are you? No, really, how are you? Did you know that the average person blinks fifteen to twenty times per minute? That seems low to me, but with the way you stare I think you would fall outside that range. I’d like to count how many times your eyelashes touch your cheeks from one minute to the next but you’re not speaking and I feel like I should stop. How’s work? How’s the weather? How are your parents? How were the holidays? I can follow the rules. I c