Today's poem is Personal Essay on Intimacy by Kate Kearns. It is read by Gibson Fay-LeBlanc.
Personal Essay on Intimacy
The woman who has cut my hair forever
washes it in the usual sink, and,
as I'm sitting up, presses
towel-covered fingers in my ears
dries that uncomfortable pool,
deft as a habit.
She's got the moment timed exactly right,
my head upward but not quite.
Our custom is older than my marriage.
Has she been doing that all along
and I only noticed today?
She must do it for everyone. Even so,
it's a comfort she doesn't have to give
and I didn't know I needed,
a touch apart from love,
loving all the same.