People close up tight
Into seeds
Into shells
Into sugar coated pills
Curl like armadillos
Armoured cars
Brace for bullets
Arm against amour
Curb against coeur

Node links swiftly sever
Smiles terrify
Contact is a core incursion
“Hello” raises shields
“How are you?” is a bullet
Heading straight for your heart
Each attempt to connect
Is enough to shock you dead

Safer to play
On virtual stages
With other actors
In fantasies of your making
Than open to one
Who asks how you are
In the flesh
With their breath
Sitting an arm’s length
From your heart
It might wound you to feel
It might kill you to connect