this delicate negotiation

I found you by design or
was it your design
or: we were drawn, we drew

Midway in this delicate
negotiation telephone rings
(Don't stop! …they'll call again…)

Offstage the fabulous creature scrapes and shuffles
we breathe its heavy dander
I don't care how, if it dies this is not the myth

No ex/interior: compressed
between my throat
and yours, hilarious oxygen

And, for the record, each did sign
our true names on the register
at the mouth of this hotel

[Adrienne Rich, "iv" from 'Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth' in Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth]