face recognition

i kneel before the eye.
my bones are a series
of distances & i ask
the iris to trace me.
make a map 
of my features.
how long is it from
cheek bone to cheek bone?
i wonder if you would be able
to answer this
if, in a second, you had to pluck
my face from a bouquet.
could you stare & know
how wide my lips are? the crests
of my brows?
i want to be measured 
in your phantom knuckles & teeth.
the eye sees me clearly 
like i've never 
witnessed myself. 
when you looked at me
in the dark
of the school yard in the 
dark of your bedroom in the dark
of your back seat 
in the dark of the dark
did you see what a technology does?
all my features
aligned to make a pattern.
when you put your thumb
to my chin 
did you plant
a reference point there?
i am not an eye at all
but when i view your face 
you print a tangible wreckage.
i blink & so does the eye.
the eye asks me
to hold still,
so i listen. reads me quickly
without hesitation.
it knows where i am going
& who i am going to be.
you kissed
my forehead as if i wasn't
just a template
& then you cupped 
another face after another face,
pouring over them 
while i turned
turned to a singular mirror
dangling above a sink.
i took a ruler
& i measured the length
of my nose. jaw height
forehead width. 
all my featurers accounted for.
i had to know 
more than you knew.