A SIGN OF GOOD WRITING (For Brook Stephenson, especially since the homie Tyehimba Jess won the PULITZER in Poetry. I’m sure he’s smiling.)

there was a period
when i spoke of you
thought of you in this way
like your life was parenthetical
an aside or perhaps elided
an open em dash to illustrate
an interjection or interruption

but perhaps

you were such a complete
sentence supreme subject
verb agreement
spun effortlessly by a hand
so unseen so unwilling
to compromise on
perfection

that a period
felt more like a puncture
to the lungs of us left