I can’t smell menthol cigarettes
or cheap beer without smelling you,

I can’t hear “you eighteen yet?”
without wanting to tear out my insides,

you ruined so many simple things and
you think you can just show up again,
acting like we’re friends

you did more than touch me
you tainted every moment of
intimacy I’ve had since,

you made me sick and broken
and clouded my judgement so
much that I didn’t know the danger
I was in until you were gone,

I felt sick in your presence,
sick hearing your name, I was
told it was butterflies, I was told
it was love,

now my friends tell me they were
scared for me,

I wish they would have kicked the
chair out from under me and the noose
you tied so tightly around my neck.

- S.G.