step one. you close your eyes. you close them tight. then you press your palms against your closed eyelids, until you start seeing red spots that remind you of a song you wrote for someone so long ago. that someone doesn't matter anymore, not really, so eventually, neither will he.
step two. you wear a nightgown. the one with the lacy v neck, the one that exposes your thighs, the one with the vintage roses. you wear it to bed to remind yourself that you don't have to wear his attention like a perfume to feel ****.
step three. you listen to those songs. you know which ones. you listen to them and sing or rap along until your throat is sore, until your chest hurts. do it until you don't know why you're crying, then write a song about why you are crying, so that when you look back, you can see that it doesn't matter. heartache fades.
step four.** dive into a body of water in only your under garments. force yourself to swim, no matter how much you want to drown.