Romantic

by Andrea Krause

I’ve shrunk my fear, reduced it

down to dollhouse size,



1/12th scale. Learned how

to cope. But every day I’m startled—



you’re still here.

Glued into my seam



like a magazine perfume sample,

sucker punching sandalwood



& lilac esters. A stripe of melancholy

vulnerability. Romantic



for this life, satisfaction can be found

in fixing every piece



I’ve broken. Tinkering with

the doorknob too small to grasp.



Let me speak in the future currency

of wonder & desire. I can sew



an entire tuxedo from the scraps

of one exaggerated thing.