10 Ways to Say Goodbye

1.

I will miss your meadow hair
the moss across your chest and
your ivy eyelashes. I will
miss tending your garden.

2.

You want me to perform
at the Valentine’s Day
poetry reading.
You have unwittingly invited me
to sing our heartbreak
in a room full of lovers.

3.

I have come a hundred times
since we broke up.
I only thought of you
once. That time,
I could not finish.

4.

I have been under the surface
of your spell for so long
that I have grown gills.
I have lost the ability
to breathe above water.

5.

You called her a pet name
in French. She is my best friend.
You must have known
I would be reading the text.

6.

Getting high alone
merely reminded me.
Before, I only needed
your scent.

7.

You have changed masks
too many times since I left.
I no longer remember
the face I met first.

8.

Astronomy and oceanography
take on new meanings
without your constellation freckles,
without my shark bites on your neck.

9.

I have written a thousand deaths,
all dealt by you, all sweet
and gruesome.
I am tired
of being buried.

10.

Mother said that sometimes
lovers come into our lives
for a season.
It has been cold here.
At last, I can see
Spring.