The Circumference of Emmanuel
Chris Haven

Circle was the choice. Could’ve been ellipses, parallelograms. Rhombuses even. But the spin and turn, the heavenly crumble. The shadow in the light completes the circle. The crescent puts absence in the throat, until the sky widens. But Emmanuel sees them as squares, the edges that only his eye implies. A child’s blocks. The better to build a wall with. The math, in fact, does not work out. That’s his little wink. This world has been dappled, dappled with questions in a masquerade of answers. Scratch these answers, fill however many sheaves of paper you have. So easy to believe. Spread your arms wide. I love you this much.

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