i. monroe way

he says love

is like tumbleweed

we can never be

quite sure where

and when and why

it comes and goes

so when he walked

off at his stop on

monroe way I was

half-expecting someone

his friend his cousin

his mom maybe

to come up to me

say sorry for the joke

laugh it off

you can call me

a fool for believing

he left because

anything would feel

better than this

sitting in the cracking

plastic blue of the bus

seat alone with

dust forming sad gray

crescents under my

nails like the moon

in the window the

night he kissed

me held me loved

me i wanted everything

so much that i wanted

nothing at all

the day we bought

clementines at the

farmers market

peeled our lives

bare tasted the same

unraveling sweetness

talked about forever

forever forever

the day i moved in

grocery shopped

for his fridge

watched the

sun rise and fall

on his splintering

bedroom walls laid

there and thought

about forever forever

forever and then

i realize i’m still

crying and the bus

has arrived at terminal

and i’ve long

missed my stop

on monroe way.

ii. new apartment ▶