Amicable

There are people who can talk 
about their exes and how they've 
remained friends despite separation: 

amicable arrangements to co-parent; 
agreement that, with the admission of 
differences, there should be no need 

to escalate them to the scale of telenovela 
proportions. Amicabilis— a word used in Roman  
law to describe friendly and peacable relations, 

or the offer of relevant advice to a court 
so a ruling might be more favorable. If only 
it were simple to dress hurt in softer clothes,
 
take its hands in yours and convince it to stop 
picking at its scabs or installing more concertina 
wire across fence tops. Beyond the edge, that road

goes nowhere. Far away, a river murmurs old 
arguments to itself, resolving in a cascade before 
vaporing into foam. If only the underside of your 

blasted heart found a way to let some green grow again 
between the cracks, allow the blighted shingles to fall 
away into the quiet that surpasses all understanding.