Because we’ve perfected
pretending,
we seem the same.
The subtle shifts
        sleeping arrangements, bank accounts
        divided time, formal conversation
don’t show.
It’s almost as if
we could march on in this sameness
for another 15 years.
Yet under my skin
my organs have been rearranged
my blood flows sideways
my mind catapults to places
        once unfathomable.
Different
doesn’t seem strong enough a word.