The Reservoir

1 The reservoir is trying to freeze over with an expanding map shaped like an angel Separated lovers on a coast keep walking toward each other. Low sun reddens their faces without heat They are weary of always moving so seldom touching, but never think to move inland, massive and stable Imagoes hatched on thin ice, it’s their illusion membranes are brighter than occluded flesh of interiors Membranes have the density of an edge, and edges violent as lava 2 All day she walked across the tundra He began to drive away obliquely at exactly her speed, so she altered her angle, aiming above him, as in a current He departed in a zone that solidified at his whim, so she reached for his hand Land cracked with their weight. He seemed to reach toward her, a hand like paper twisted and folded over, only a surface with wan modulations, like a map 3 Then she delicately stepped out toward the edge, tenuous as a leaf as if waiting for a letter but it froze too swiftly before her At dusk his voice broke her concentration She turned, vexed, and saw he had not spoken.