I asked where it began
and I looked at the boot tracks,
out the back porch
to mark where it ended.
You took three scars with you,
one on your palm
I burned my initials
with the skin on my neck
on your right shoulder,
where your ink lie dormant
you couldn't sweat it out
when we made love
and one on the inside of your lip
where my teeth drew blood,
I wasn't much
for kissing foreheads.
You became a part of the mountain,
I fled to the sea
I broke you and bruised
me.
We cut each other with knives
mine of selfishness
yours of chaos.
I thought of you
when I thought of beauty and rain,
eyes like the creek behind your house,
hands like my fathers.
Splashing puddles
can't stop a monsoon.
One year past,
you are dust beneath rubber,
browned leaves upon a dust shelf,
thrown into the trash,
picture frames
onto the top of my closet,
Your name was never tattooed to me,
though it felt like that for a long time.
Yesterday
I think I went the whole day
without calling your name
beneath my breath.
I have won,
my heart back
you had it
for far too long.