It was there since the beginning:
the white rope, eye splice
uniting us
between two bodies
we were sewn
together
tethered
by a single
fratricidal heart
one tree
we split
in
two
I dreamed rebellion
(to pare the pair of us)
our parallel lives
a double-barreled shotgun
I had to free myself from you me
in the mirror
I held your face
in my eye
like a hostage
we lived
together as strangers for years
side by side
in school
shoulder to shoulder
in the grocery store
on the escalator
our shadow monstrous
beneath the streetlight
until now
I see my face in your fear
brother, between us
there’s a bridge
where I wait
across a wide
confluence
of rivers
that carries us
in the tumult
together
