1. We’ve never had a real history together so much as a history textbook
we were trying desperately to read so we could “get it right.”
2. If the equator fell in love with the Pacific Ocean and decided
to tear itself away from the earth and find solace in the sea instead,
that would pretty much describe our relationship up til the point
you left me for some other woman you’d barely even met.
3. Every time I get my hair cut it reminds me of how much
I wish you were removed from my life entirely, and couldn’t grow on me again.
There are constellations in the sky you were never able to name;
sometimes I feel like that’s a metaphor for all the secrets
you never cared enough to learn about me-
I’m no astronomist but some star clusters aren’t that hard to recognize.
4. My grandmother taught me that silence is just a handful of pauses
that simply never ended up leading to anything good to say.
You taught me that sometimes two people in love are like that too.
5. When we slept together the first time I was just looking for an exit sign
the whole time I was inside your body. It’s not that I’m claustrophobic;
it’s that you never bothered to make sure I was comfortable.
Next time, love harder than you fuck.
6. If you’d called me beautiful with the lights on
I wouldn’t flinch every time you flipped the switch.
7. My esophagus has acid reflux from the bitter taste
of all the words I wish I could take back-
not because they hurt you, but because they didn’t hurt you enough.
8. The ear actually evolved from the jawbone.
So next time, maybe switch it up and listen before you speak.
9. There are crawl spaces inside my heart that were never filled;
now I’m just waiting for someone who actually wants to discover them.
10. I was just a waste of time to you, but truth be told, you were a waste of mine.