mechanical raze i kissed the curved line above her left eye while her husband watched from the other side of a hatch that never made it out of the womb. i told him he grew a good beard, though it couldn't hold a candle to the biblical sprawl of my own. he pressed his lips against hers in front of me. trying to save face. four quick pecks. no feeling in any of them. when he was out of earshot, i told her she had to make a choice. i couldn't stay a ghost haunting the margins of her life forever. she put on a fake smile and pretended not to hear me. i set off her car alarm before she could leave without walking anywhere near it. my fingers found two gold keys in my pocket. i shoved one into the lock i thought led to my home and turned its teeth clockwise. nothing happened. i was standing at the wrong door. 240121 what's it to you? who go blather from