All the little moments we shared have turned
bitter in my mouth. As you walked away, you
cast a shadow over my life. And I am alone
Down the line of plain faces looking for peace.
Even your promise is not true. Your tearful
fear that I would leave you, just for you to
go back to her. For me to find out on my
"happy birthday," that you were nothing at all.
It shouldn't be a surprise, this kind of realization,
just typical behavior from a boy, too young to
know what he really had in his grip. The
loving potential of my heart growing in his palm.
Maybe there's nothing alive in that chest. Hollow
nothingness that echoes around the both of us.
Opened at the throat, waiting to receive a sweet
pair of barn swallows. Nesting there
quietly and happily in the bare open space.
Red dressings on the walls around what used to be a
swollen heart, now tired and deflated and
taken advantage of and thrown in the dirt
until no beat remains in the hot or cold night.
Victim, lying in a crime scene chalk bed just
where he left me. My skeleton bared, ribs played like a
xylophone in a strange orchestra. I stay where
you left me, lover, and my hope has gone dark with
zeal and hunger pains.

06/02/2017

Author's Note: An abecedarian

Posted on 06/06/2017
Copyright © 2025 Meghan Helmich