Page 69 of The Secret to Belonging

he’s there

and you’re up and tucked again in his arms

gliding around the rink

held, graceful

and free

every Thursday

the kino marquee posts a new movie

it becomes your regular date

no matter what’s showing

The Outsiders

Risky Business

The Big Chill

Staying Alive

you love it when the lights go down

he snuggles you close

not a single person in California knows where you are

would even know where to look for you

high above the Arctic Circle

you are alive

independent

autonomous

but as the credits roll after Terms of Endearment

you sob in the dark theater

you can’t help it

the film opened a spigot you can’t close

the fraught parent-child relationship

the fractured marriage

the terminal diagnosis

none of it happened to you

but the dysfunction