We were in the kitchen working.
He placed his hands gently on my shoulders to get my attention,
and then I heard him choking.
He was facing the sink and I moved behind him,
my fists together and pulling in, hard and harder,
over and over and over, and it did no good.
His hands came over mine to readjust and place them.
I pulled and pounded and yanked him to me
and finally spicy cauliflower came back up.
His first words were “You did a maneuver!"
but my heart was violent
and pulling at me so loudly I could not think
or see but could only pull him into my arms, his back
to my front, with the vision of him leaving me
tearing at my roots, plucking me out of time to a world
where I am once more all alone.