You Used to Unfold Me

We talk
slowly
about nothing
about movies
we stick to
surface streets
and find no
meaning in cafe windows
no substance in
hotel rooms
I used to unwrap you!
tender layers unfolding
like eager gold
but now
we are cool
and recount
our daily bores
as though
the sum or our
uses
equaled
something
(more)
substantial
while softer
things shrivel
and dry roots
go unfed
strangled
by the phone line
and all
that is
not said

I truly believe the sum of our uses equals something more substantial