i had tried to turn to ash every trace of you,
every trace of anyone that made me feel less,
any person that made me feel like a crumb out of the bites they had taken from life,

i ended with a pile of ashes and dead flowers,
purple marks, slices they had taken from my being,
an empty call log and bible verse text messages from my mother,
someone else's t-shirt in my drawer,
and a hoodie and jersey in a packing envelope under my bed.