She gets her alcohol
and gulps it in,
as if
that’s how you teach
a wound to heal.

Her heart is a cotton ball
made of steal around the edges
- roughly molded to go against
and beneath the stormy waves
but tenderly so,
to stay out on the rain
catching pours
that were meant
to soak others.

And if in the end
he happens
to break your heart
thank him
for giving you
something
to write about.