It’s over, I say.
Fast forward a few weeks later:
yeah, not quite.
We didn’t break up.
We were just cleaning up
the most recent mess.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: fast forward, not quite, and cleaning up.
Photo by Todd Mittens on Unsplash
It’s over, I say.
Fast forward a few weeks later:
yeah, not quite.
We didn’t break up.
We were just cleaning up
the most recent mess.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: fast forward, not quite, and cleaning up.
Photo by Todd Mittens on Unsplash
The fight’s gone out of me, taken flight.
You’re here but not here, you’re there and gone.
I’m left empty, and why not? I deserve it.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: empty, flight, and why not?
Photo by Adil Sattarov on Unsplash
Another day is fading away and soon you won’t be here anymore. Your presence here has an expiration date, even though I don’t know what it is, or how I’ll get through it. You’re going to go, so I need to grow. I need to remember that I have wings too, and leaving the nest isn’t necessarily not an option. What a wonder it would be if I could get by without you, without my pills, without my therapist. What a wonder it will be if I do.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: expiration date, leaving the nest, and pills. … Read the rest
This isn’t a time out,
this is an end,
and I know now
it’s coming, soon.
We don’t need a
critical analysis or
more digging down
into our psyches to know
that we’ve gone
as far as we can go.
It’s not as easy as
sweeping the past
under a rug and hoping
to forget the mess.
What’s left here will linger.
What’s left here will poke
at my tortured heart
long, long after you’re gone.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: time out, critical analysis, and sweeping.
Photo by Joseph Sharp on Unsplash
I’ve always wanted to see
the skies of Montana, or even
Wyoming, wherever that is;
can I find it on a map?
I’ll check the forecast,
pack up my medicine and
toothbrush and clothes,
and I’ll just fucking go.
Set out on the highway
With “head west” being
the only thing I know,
a road that may or may not
be lonely, and my cat,
she comes, too.
I’m going to die
if I don’t get away from you.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: Wyoming, forecast, and medicine.
Photo by Neil Wallace on Unsplash
I can’t take this anymore
I’ve said hundreds of times
but now I really mean it.
I can’t take it,
not a minute longer.
We’ve lived a life of
make-believe and never
stopped playing games.
Dress-up, house, pretend.
It really has to end.
I’ve been dancing
around the edges of
my escape route and
now I’m running toward it.
I want to be free
as fast as I can be.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: not a minute longer, make-believe, and dancing.
Photo by Erik Karits on Unsplash
Decades ago,
it’s been decades now,
you and I shared space
in the same place
at the same time
and the fact that
was even possible
feels like magic.
Now all I have are
memories and imaginations,
like the lump of my belly
growing with our baby
and the house we
would have bought together,
the home we would
have made forever.
Remember marching
up the sand dunes to see
the most beautiful sunset
of our entire lives?
Do you remember dancing
at Limelight, utterly high with the
flashing lights and pulsing music,
our sweaty bodies sliding
against each other … Read the rest
If only things
had worked out
the way I’d wished they would
We’d be opening gifts and
taking photos in front of
our first Christmas tree
But now I wish you
weren’t here, and instead
I’m planning my exit strategy.

Today’s poetry prompt words were: if only, dinner, and exit strategy.
Photo by Andrew Abbate on Unsplash