.

a poem for s 

 The room hums…Soft—

controllers glow: one warm. one slow.

 I hover 

at ‘start’ 

tiny paws 

brushing light.

 Your laughter streams 

through pixels,

rippling

 against the walls 

of this quiet. 

 Crowds scroll past, 

voices spilling like code, 

filling spaces we carved 

between frames. 

 I smile.

 I wink. 

I gather the glitches—

 little sparks only we remember,

 ghosts of our game. 

 Soft ending?

 The menu glows

 phosphor green, 

gentle, and still.

 I cradle our high score 

our secret dream, 

that hums in the paused world,

 a phantom refrain 

alive in a frame. >_<