The Slow but Constant Movement of Earth’s Lithosphere: A Human Study

By Erin Brandt Filliter

The steady drip of routine eroded our geography: endless flows of laundry, dishes, and “what’s for dinner?”

Bodies that once matched like plates warped under the tectonic pressures of life.

“The only constant is change.” The therapist sipped kombucha while mapping our widening divides. “And time.”

In response, we loosened our interlocked fingers; knuckles knobbier, skin wrinklier, your iron ring clanking against my gold band.

That night, we converged in the delta of shifts and drifts, a mountain range emerging in the middle of our king-sized bed.

In the earthquake of an embrace, we cried.

The next morning, we said goodbye.