Remember when
a nook was a nook, friend
and text were nouns. We were verbs

entwined without
unnecessary articles. I imagine you
the way I did before

we met—and the whole poem collapsed
under the weight of our naked
words. Truth is

what was stranger than
has been replaced with less than
a preoccupation

with middle-aged thighs. And I
recognize this contradicts everything

you presume. Probably. Vain
is still nothing
but a modifier. The end.