Time Zones

Air hisses through my teeth,

a sibilant attempt to hush the creature

thrashing in slow-motion seizures

beneath my sternum.

Every struggle this muscle makes against my ribs

divides the time I was allotted into intervals;

a crude clock battering away aside my lungs.

I entertain the whim that we might synchronize

our lonely tickings beneath stretched skin --

but it seems that your heart is racing,

while mine sluggishly falls behind,

wondering what to do with this over-abundance

of time.