take long showers and
try your hardest to scrub your skin,
until your pores are red,
so you can wipe away all of the fingerprints
that they left on you.

repeat their name over and over,
unit it becomes foreign and distorted,
so even your tongue can get tired of them.

listen to the loudest music and
put the volume up all of the way
until you can no longer hear anyone or anything,
so the sound of their voice will stop calling you
in the night.

immediately grow less fond of yourself,
rather than the person, because you finally realize
that it is impossible to forget someone
who has tattooed their name on the tip of your tongue
and carved their name into the front of your wrists.