Netflix is My Safe Word

see, it means we can sit on the sofa
with pillows between us. it means i
am within reach. it means that the
mood can be right, we can move in
and consent when possibility meets
affirmation. it means i need to view
you like i view myself; full outer drip
with a mental physique nowhere
near as thicc as your physicality.
this isn't a way to make you simp for me.
it simply means i want to court
your soul to Love and Basketball.
it means i want to know you by
the number of episodes completed
in the silence of animated introspection.
it means that somehow i will find
ways to quote other people and
make it sound like me.

"This is where I fell in love with you.
- Michael Scott"
- me.

Tristan Cody is the Creative Director of POCKETFIRE and Poetry Editor for the winnow magazine. Poetry published in HARK!, Mad Swirl, Emerge Literary Journal and more.