afraid of further spreading the stain of my name
i have refrained from making my life
no more public than the contrived words
that i put down into writing.

hidden secrets and gestures between every letter
to people waiting across ocean waters,
as well as the last person i spoke
my drunken slander to last night.

i sang that song loudly in the car last night
and remembered that i labeled it unconditional.
singing the same song on repeat,
i pull off to the side of the road

and watched harry potter, instead.