Before

Before I analyze the color of your eyes with a spectrometer Before I fill notebooks with crosssections of your cranium Before I map your topography at one millimeter to an inch Before I triangulate your exact height with a protractor Before I study a strand of your hair under a microscope
Before I pour plaster in your footprint to make a cast Before I calculate your shoulder diameter’s angstroms Before I immerse you in water to measure your volume Before I divide your weight by this to find density
Before I derive locations of your ancestors’ lives Before I look you up in every phonebook and atlas Before I alphabetize every word you have written Before I survey your lifeline with a pica stick
Before I visit the neighborhood you grew up in Before I write down what you say while asleep Before I sketch a map of your nervous system Before I learn to sing your favorite operas Before I devise every anagram of your name
Before I scatterplot your electron orbits Before I pin your coordinates on a globe Before I classify each of your freckles
Before I map out your pleasure centers Before I memorize all 10 fingerprints

Before I begin to compose this poem Have you noticed me noticing you?