The Thing Itself

for G.F.

protect the personal while digging deep
and skimming quickly in the real-to-me
fruitless pursuit of what makes it matter
the thing itself for its own strange sake
 
how can I say what I mean when I don't
know don't trust my own thinking circle
down to the empty knowing other people
feel otherwise serve their own obsessions
 
I don't need to know or care to love them
still I wish we could connect be friends and
feel the original sympathy and interest that
made us want to be together love all night