Heather Romero-Kornblum

Burn

I forced myself to burn

I was beyond protest

Betrayed, derided – 

whatever being the subject of that is called – 

it ignited everything

I could not handle the scorn

My motherboard shortcircuited

Blew all fuses

I imagined the flames would reach the heavens

I was that powerful

I insisted

As my heat melded with vapor

Hiss, my essence said,

as it was swallowed by the elements

Radical Acceptance (haiku)

Today, I am jerk-

ing off to radical ac-

ceptance. Fuck yeaaaah

When

When the person you don’t want to see anymore

comes down on a bus

Really, you don’t have to wake up to get me,

he says,

I’m ok waiting

I appreciate, I say

I almost asked him not to come

I would rather figure it out myself

then play into this conditional

But I have no spine, I remind myself

Just accept it

Rather -- fractured spine

But also, no spine, backbone, whatever

I’m so tired

I wanted this over months ago

and also, I didn’t want it to end

Now, it’s a drag

You almost killed me when I was sick!

I hear my anthem in my head –

though it is serious

I was bummed last week because you resorted to threats again

Seriously, don’t, I said

I did not come all this way to be afraid of another

angry and punitive man

You knew I was really depressed, you said

I don’t want to tear you down

And also,

I was like, dude

I was sleeping peacefully (finally!)

until you texted with unsubtle coercion 

I’m over it

But I’m not

I’m too sad for words