“something has gone wrong
or maybe something has just gone.
he loved you and then he didn’t
and now you are left to practice distance
in small ways. you take the long route to school,
circle your car through the streets to avoid that one.
you make your bed in the morning then spill coffee
on your shirt. if it burns, it only burns for a moment.
something has gone wrong and you are not being brave
about it. you are so loud in your aching and no one can look.
you run quickly from one thing to the next because the space
in between is horrifying. the space in between is quiet.
there is a better way to live through this but you don’t know that yet.
you aren’t that girl yet, the one who can live through something like this
so you’re just dragging yourself around until the day that you are.
my god, you look so tired and small. my god, you look so haunted.
there is a better way to live through this but you’re living
and for now, that’s enough.”