The Familiarity

Is there anything greater than falling in love with the same person again?

May 07, 2025

The Familiarity

We have lived our lives in minor variations,
in subtle movements,
and sound.
We lost our love in The Familiarity.
Off-beat rhythms,
an un-syncopated waltz.
Discordant in our distance,
unharmonious patterns emerged.

We did not make room for simple devotion.
Me,
with grandiose overtures,
and you,
with your meditative soliloquy.

This disconnected life.

You sit on grey stones,
the sun beats down,
and I water the plants
I bought to show you that I still loved,
that I can love,
and be loved.

While you’re not looking,
I carry us around like a bag of rocks.
Under my pericardium,
I have stitched your soul a temporary home.
To offer some respite,
To rediscover permanency.

I have lived my life in minor variations.

I wrap my arms around your creased belly,
I hold on,
just to be held.
To heal and be healed.

We start the mornings by moving in fifths,
to move us forward,
to edge us closer.
The simple act of seeing each other.
Coffee smells,
on covered porches,
the roses shed their petals,
sending energy to their roots.
Jasmine fills the air.

A call to prayer in the distance beats out as a Duduk player manifests.
His soft palate,
teeth against apricot wood.
A deep resonance emerges.
A divine resistance.
We find a connection in sound.

We have lived our lives in minor variations.
We made love this morning.
You recalled it was the first time in years.
And we were good.

What Is The Familiarity?

At its core, The Familiarity is a collection of poetry being published in 2026, that reflects on the dynamics of intimacy, routine, and rediscovery.

It is a deeply personal project born from my own life experiences, particularly my journey with my wife as we’ve navigated the balance between being family—connected by love and shared history—and becoming familiar, where presence risks becoming routine, and moments of magic can fade into the background.

In 2024, we were in a period of great reflection, a moment when we could have chosen to go our separate ways.

What does it mean to know someone so well that their presence becomes both your comfort and your challenge? To see the extraordinary in the every day, and yet sometimes take that presence for granted?

This collection doesn’t shy away from the darker moments: the complacency that can creep into relationships and the emotional distance that sometimes forms. But it also celebrates the quiet joys, the unnoticed acts of care, and the resilience that keeps love alive. Each poem is an invitation to look deeper, to find the extraordinary within the ordinary, and to honor the duality of being intimately known.

How many relationships fall into the trap of being transactional and never recover? Is there anything greater than falling in love with the same person all over again?

In 2024, I unintentionally found the answers to both those questions, and it gave me the greatest gift - the ability to write again.

An Invitation

The Familiarity is a work in progress, much like the relationships it seeks to illuminate. It is a celebration of love’s endurance and an acknowledgment of its imperfections. If this resonates with you, I invite you to follow along as the collection takes shape. Together, let’s explore the spaces between family and familiarity, and rediscover the beauty in being known