a birthday poem

or means of affection, otherwise
for atcr:

i make you out of words
first,
by necessity / from - memory:

there are letters tucked in
              - to the curve of my neck
        gaps in my spine
& sometimes
between my
fingers or lips
or thighs,
    even.
or          nowhere,
as points close to me
as you are
— far away -
tend to be.
and I speak
your native silence