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MUTUAL EXCLUSIVITY
MUTUAL EXCLUSIVITY
We extend ourselves to give to one thing
At the expense of another thing. Lovers
Know this as they step up to each other.
In the world of mutual exclusivity, we
Go over the contours of emotion as if
They could all be divided endlessly.
In any moment’s sketch we engrave memories
And assign them to all these contrasting
Grounds as if they had a singular meaning.
We do all of this before the heart’s curtain but
When the curtain goes up on the stage of
Life we prepare a banquet for our singular lover.
These turbid infusions are what we go on tasting
But we tell ourselves that our emotions are un-
Alloyed; without taint of mutual exclusivity.
Our heart swings boldly in high towers of rapture
But at the expense of so much division that even the
Rapture is always at the expense of something else
