THE WORST PART OF A BREAK-UP
by Michelle Awad



is not the screaming,

not the gut-clenching

holding/un-holding,
fighting

back tears, it’s not the

I can’t do this anymores, or

this isn’t workings, not the

storming out, or the
returning 
house keys, or
the picking up your 
things,
you left them here, 
they’re
in a box on the porch

if you want them back, or I

can give them to Goodwill.

Either way, you have a
week.

The worst part

of a break-up

is

much bigger

much quieter

much later

it’s
that I can’t find

a **** picture

of myself that isn’t

a picture of you,
it’s
deleting them, 
it’s

selling those 
concert tickets,

it’s unremembering,

phone numbers,

and birthdays, and what

you’d find funny, it’s
wanting to tell you,
it's

the ritual,

the cleansing, 
the
things that we 
do,

the things that we 
have
to do,


to pretend
 that
we’re not actually


breaking.3