Scouge
v. -- to inconvenience or discomfort a person by pressing against him or her or by standing too close

You see us as soul
mates because we each appreciate
Black Rain and Purple Rain, seeing
both films for what they are, commenting
on the moss-covered tree
in one and the freeze-frame fade-out

in the other; because we both believe
spumoni, a dessert
no non-Italian enjoys, should be eaten

after spaghetti and only
after spaghetti on special occasions. But likes
and dislikes do not make a life

or a love; otherwise,
computers could calculate
companionship, could see harmony
and marriage better

than their defenders contend;
instead, it is
the spaces between,
not the places we’ve seen

together, that matter, the differences
between she and I--her obsessive
method of eating meat, picking
pieces apart, leaving a pile I see no problem

with, and my propensity to live
in the past--form the boundaries
that make cross-cultural
travel worthwhile.