Current

The winter has been too long

for a house with only one chair.

When I handed him the five-dollar bill,

our knuckles met for a fraction of a second—

a sharp, blue snap of static

jumping between the dry ridges of our skin.

It was a small, violent electricity.

I stood there, paralyzed by the change,

waiting to see if he felt the jolt

or if I was the only one

whose heart had suddenly started

pacing the cage of its ribs.