“Things always get worse before they get better”
<<how worse?>>
you’ll drown yourself in work
imaginative work
and imaginative effort making someone richer
yet it’s never you
<<not you>>
“If you think something is off, then something is off"
<<always trust your gut!>>
I used to throw up in random bathrooms just because
I knew they wouldn't notice
Back then, things were strange as a factum: she didn’t have any friends, she’d talk to herself as her fans
How do you trust some insides after that?
<<It’s all twisted and there is blood everywhere>>
If he ran while I stayed, does that make me a loser?
A game I never planned to play, I’d win only in theory, ‘cause at the end of the day:
I stare at strangers and smell him in open-air cinemas
I could be blind and still see him, oh wait, I actually am!
<<never mind>>
“If it’s meant to be, it will be”
He marked the path with breadcrumbs before I crossed his way
Sure, but I am running in circles—that’s always a grave
Or has my witchcraft backfired?
Where was I and why didn’t I notice?
I should have known something was off
when I bit him and there was a blood bath—
biting is a love language only when full
<<what a fool!>>
He marked the path with breadcrumbs so I never get home
joke’s on me: I thought he was it. Where was I and why didn’t I notice?
The last 3 letters of the spring
Just call it what you want.
-
-
and it’s not that you left
and it’s not your stupid neighborhood I can’t avoid
and it's not your stupid apartment I can see from the sidewalk
and it's not our weekends in bed, which now I spend in the gym
and it’s not me hating this city
and hiding and hiding
blaming the heatwave
in truth I am just scared—it’s like missing a step, violently waking you up—or a lascivious sleep paralysis demon, lusting
and it’s not that you left
I promise it’s not
I’ve seen worse
I’ve lived worse
I am broken I am ugly I am lonely
I’ve heard this before
and it’s not your new car
I bet it makes you look cool; I can tell it’s working, in fact, I am proud, so proud (!)
I bet it felt good to see me seeing you: then conceding; then spiralling
all under 5 seconds
‘cause your win and my loss—it’s like falling inwards; getting smaller and smaller until you are a dot and then nothing—I used to be the whole world
I wanted a coffee
pointless to say I didn’t get anything
pointless to say I didn’t want to be there anymore
all under 5 seconds
Essentially meaning crazy—isn't that always the case
And it’s not the fact that I want to throw up every time I think I see you—what kind of ptsd is that?
Or crying in the stupid bathroom AGAIN
‘cause what…he’s moved on? he seemed fine?
life’s unfair? all I did was to notice
next time I won’t care I swear
and it’s not even all that
I promise it’s not
It’s all ranting just like he said
The blind treason—If I didn’t stop to fix my trousers—something as simple as that
I would have missed it
I would have gotten a coffee as planned
he wouldn't have seen my blue top, and my neck looking nice like that
he wouldn't have known I spiralled and cried in the bathroom
I wouldn't have known he got a new car
I honestly thought I’d have a decent day when I woke up—what kind of dark humor is that?
I bet he’d appreciate the flatness
It’s always the eyes; knocks me dead -
I was gone for too long
I forgot how to love this city
Its streets
I didn't realize I had been unhappy until late Sunday morning in your bed. You left me sleeping — on your way back you brought sweets.
I went very deep very down that rabbit hole
On the other side I met a gray-haired, sun-kissed
wise woman
She got everything I wanted
the golden boy and the white fence, no (!) make it an attic apartment
the yoga studio across the street and the neighbor with the crazy dolls watching
us
against the window
she cooked the parsley from your fridge and finished the ice-cream
I was “over” it for so long
I forgot how to love this misery
Its blonde hair
I didn’t realize I had been lonely until it was mid-December. I was rushing to meet you like I was a kid and there were presents to open on Christmas. The door ajar—I was there—bringing you cupcakes; being so glad… -
Scientists discovered
The deepest
oldest
largest
whale graveyard
Seven km beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean
forever and ever
getting even with nature
by
Doing the job of a mother
for a scared little boy
who hadn't been held when he was crying
in the end
we are all food for the same worm
It's only over when we stop trying
— to take care of the things that could last
a pay back in the shape of a gigantic swimming pool
flip-flopping redemption as a morality tool —
the leading cause of whale mortality is always the HUMAN
In this world, you gotta be a shark
yet I am a freaking Nemo
regardless
I'd never give up
The people
The places
The love
Breathing for him
Feeling his feelings for him
Doing the job of a mother
Holding the boy who never took care of the things that must last
Take everything from me
I have nothing left to give
What is another word for being called home?
Perhaps, it’s where the whales go to die
when they stop swimming -
…that’s the thing with the unrequited love
You can actually feel the power imbalance in your bones…They say rise above, be the bigger person, ok, done!
Will that bring them back? Will that explain the scrunchy and blonde hair I found in his apartment? Just know, there was a before, and this is the after. Am I going to eat at a normal speed like a normal person? What about my hair? What about those 5 months I don’t remember? What about all the men I am trying to forget? Self-harm disguised as sexual empowerment! What about all the regret? regret. regret. regret.
Let’s face it,
you don’t just get over it — not when you know that, in those moments when you were fighting for air in a loveless apartment, he was sleeping with some random marketing girl from work. It probably happened in his bed, probably on my side, and likely offered her a glass of water afterward. Just good manners, he’d say. right. I remember.
So much misery,
that flatmate of yours, she got annoyed that you asked her to turn the music down, on that day when he left, when all you needed was just a little bit of quiet. Everything was so loud, so loud...You couldn't eat for 3 weeks after that. Your sister said you weren't really there for like a year — the aftermath of losing someone dear. (That) your own goddamn sister wasn't able to console the inconsolable. Even your father heard about it. He doesn't ask too many questions, but that time he did.
And yes, ofc, technically, it wasn't cheating, but spiritually — spiritually it was death. Who cares about the soul when the law is on your side, right? Will that send me back to a time before the scrunchie? Will I trust again? All that love…wasted
only to fuck a marketing girl 🙂
Tell me again it was just a breakup
I dare you, tell me I should be fine by now. Tell me it was all in my head. Tell me it wasn't supposed to break me, not like this, maybe just a little bit, for like a weak, that sounds like a reasonable amount of time to get over something that wasn't that deep.
It wasn't supposed to last. It was something you aren’t supposed to talk about, like ever — something misunderstood (by me, ofc). I misread them, the signs, burning in the sun, looking like flowers in mid-August.
Tell me I am wrong
for taking too long to heal
for crying
for crying
for crying!
There is no point in waiting for an apology
because
well, for starters, it’s never gonna come
you are now the villain in their story, in fact, you’ve abandoned THEM, you controlling and manipulative witch!
It’s just a breakup.
Time will heal. What an asshole, they’d think, but never say. He’s never even met any of your friends(!) – I met his. It was almost like I was living his life. He didn't like sleeping in my bed; or taking the metro to work (my place was TOO far); or even going on walks; or watching something I liked, because all of my shows were STUPID (he still laughed at the jokes), and looked at me from above — a tall man he was, indeed. I was supposed to watch something more intellectual (more performative, perhaps) like all the shows he watched. He adored me for being myself, but in the end, that was exactly why he resented me. Like, why are you so honest with the world? Aren’t you ashamed of yourself like the rest of us? Be less, be less, be less!
Truly, it wasn’t even that deep
and yk, crazy chicks swallow
so that’s that
breadcrumbs, cum, and all that anger — because: different expectations, he said; he's not ready, he said; he wants to fuck around, he said; new york, he said; it didn’t work out, he said; I am another crazy ex, he said, hence the mirage.
that’s the thing with the unrequited love
you can actually love someone forever when they don’t love you back
airing dirty laundry on the internet, as if I wasn't a clean freak
perhaps that's the point — I need a cleanse, yet all I have left are words and moral injury. -
When they leave, what happens to you?
Do you go too?
do you move apartments
cut your hair in an ugly bob
do you switch countries
try another yoga studio, or two, or three (anything just to keep him comfortable)
get a new job
go on endless dates with random people from the internet
pretend they are fun
pretend you are fun
and keep scrolling
keep scrolling
Do you start writing?
poems, novels - do you start journaling?
Would you ever read all that? Probably not! I am making myself cry, he said. Sometimes I do. He is right again. What happens to the poems? Do you start a blog? Do you start getting likes; is someone even reading that shit? Does he know I started a blog? Does he occasionally visit it? On Tuesdays, in that little free slot he has between work and his basketball game (to be loved is to be known). Around six pm. Is he flattered; does he think I'm crazy? Is he aware I know? Does he want me to know? Does he think I am pathetic and lame? Is it all in my head? Did I make him up? Did I make it up?
All of it.
That we met in my favourite spot, on a random day in June; that I was 15 minutes early and he was 15 minutes late. Very foreshadowing! That one night I was sad and texted him that I was glad that I had met him; that he waited a second to reply and said that he was also very glad. Which turned out to be crucial for the story. Is it just a story? Would it still be important down the road? Then, another night, years later, I was sad again, and I texted him asking whether it was him. He waited half an hour to reply with a soulless “Huh?” That I had to apologise for disturbing his “peace” and not making sense (to be loved is to be known); that I was very conscious of what the distance has done to us; that I said I was sorry for invading his whatsapp privacy when really I meant I was sorry for everything. Did he catch that? << or >> Was he glorifying the moment of my defeat? ‘cause I was defeated, drowning in my own tears, to which he’d say, it’s not that deep.
I was sad a lot, and every time I’d reach for the phone to text him, I’d write long rambling sentences about all the things I should have said, but only phrased in the shower or at yoga, never in the moment. Was he sad a lot too? << or >> Was that him not giving up the joy? The joy of singlehood. Funny, 'cause when I asked how he felt about me, he said, “Don’t you know? We spend our weekends together” - and those Wednesdays when we’d f*ck during our lunch break. Now it just feels like a warning sign I missed on purpose - at some point, he would want his weekends back, whole weeks.
I was so afraid of finding out that he had moved on that I actually vanished - or was I driven away? Hence, in some universe we are still friends, but in all honesty, what kind of friendship is that if you’re still sad? Ever since then, he’s been avoiding me like the plague. As if he knew. He must have (we are only as blind as we want to be). How else would you explain that he took his weekends back? The Wednesdays too.
When they leave, you stay and grow out your hair. -
Where are you going
now that the kids are sleeping
and the boys are cheating on themselves?
Is the yearning fading
‘cause the hell is burning?
I might miss your face, yk.
Had you seen the lights dimming
when the hope was shrinking;
when the week was ending and the month, and then the year?
I heard the glasses clinking
almost there
there forever
there to feed all the hungry ferals?
Had it mattered?
There is no way to know
now that the lights are blinking
and all your shades are slinking
I didn't even notice but
there I was
there I was
drowning
sinking
there I was
inking
pointless words in senseless quotes
Had he noticed I was falling backwards?
Choking on my own hope.
Had he noticed I was slipping
on my own thoughts?
She never missed a thing, she said
he’d waste the love
for all the scrunchies of the world.
Is the yearning lasting
‘cause the heaven's freezing? -
So when you said that you loved me too
and when I said that I didn't want to see you anymore
and when I said that I wasn't your friend
and when I said that you weren't allowed to remember me
and when you said that you needed out
and the urgency of it, made me cry, you cried too
and when we looked at each other without saying anything
and when you said that you didn't want to kiss me
that you didn't even want to touch me
and when I said that I was so very scared
and you said you couldn't help me
so, please know
in that very moment all the bridges burnt
with a brief flame wavering like a light blinking
whispering weary hatred
we were
mirroring each other's shame
outshining the bigger picture
and when I said that I was so very angry
and you said you couldn't change it
I had taken all the blame and turned into ashes
rain
stardust
who cares
by the time it reached you, it was already dead
Please miss me a little more so I can miss you a little less -
Everyone you know is going through something
Everything you know is lost
Everyone you know is losing someone
either a stranger or themselves
It does happen on a random Thursday, and it does hurt like a son of a bitch
It is the blood. It bleaches, and
It's the cotton that's bleached.
It wasn't a greeting
It wasn't a “lovely seeing you too”
It was
If my skin has touched your skin
smattering a soulless form
It was
the last one of us, still standing, you poor thing, keep bleeding
maybe it’s worth dying for, or
bother to tell the difference if it didn’t matter
It was
all of me remembers the howling, and
all the feral dogs
scared
It wasn't a brief greeting
rather a softening gasp of the once children
by the look at their steps, shrinking
walking homeward cold
and defeated -
It’s nice to dream about the hypothetical kids and hypothetical advice I’d give them
I want the hypothesises not the children
didn’t you hear? I am shallow -
my eyes are red and swollen from all the leather tears I’ve forced on you
skilfully pretending my intentions were good
I’ve mastered lying when I was six - he told me to keep quite
nobody had to know how much he “cared” -
it was top secret, so it “thrived” between us
my arms - a cage, a warm brown, pale yellow token of love
my words - a trap
scheming the fastest way to get under your skin when you only wanted to be free
my legs - a deceptive snare, not open, concealed, patiently waiting to use you as bait
my home - my home is sweet like the deadly nightshade
I bite, tear the layers of your deeds with my teeth, I bite
my lips - your lips poison
my inner thighs
oh well
you wouldn’t remember
didn’t you hear? She's the best and I am crazy! how dare you be honest
how dare you shed your leather tears
I know you’ve mastered lying when you were six
I could use a wise, safe mother right about now if I may