I dare you to play my heartstrings,

strong as spiderweb silk.

Your presence runs through me like

rusty barbed wire,

a screaming putrescence.

My heart corrodes and heals in waves,

taking and giving.

I let your name gather dust.

I watch the crackled paint details peel,

marred remnants deteriorate.

I feel you forget me like a childhood memory.

I release the heavy syllables of you into the sky,

each sound and memory sailing like dandelion dust,

waiting to land and grow in safer spaces.