Listen

I don’t want your heart on a platter,
Beating and shivering in clotted blood
Fresh from your chest, broken open
I never asked you to do this
I am no damsel and you no prince,
We were never on the same page
            Did you even think to ask?

I don’t want you to gut yourself
Over me, I don’t want your pain
Don’t rhapsodise over me, I am no goddess,
I never demanded your sacrifice
              Are you listening to me?

But all my unspoken words, the residue
Of everything I wished to say to you
Unleashed now and I am a storm
I’m wailing now, caterwauling,
I am not your plaything
Whipping your ears, buffeting you back
Maybe now you will be forced
               To listen

The tremendous force
My pent-up frustration, consternation
I am erupting now, my molten words
Melt your tender flesh, sear your bones
I don’t want you and I never will
Underfoot, the ground groans and splits,
Swallows you up into the deep earth
           A stalagmite prison

And still the storm carries on
The primal roar
              I DON’T LOVE YOU AND I NEVER WILL

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Stephanie’s work has appeared in the Epilogue edition of WORDLY Magazine.