HOW TO STOP FALLING IN LOVE

a friend of mine
tells me she knows
a woman
who suffered

her lover
his promises
gone

she's found the answer
knows how to stop

each time
now
she begins to feel
she could love
again

she walks the stairs
down to the basement
opens a can of rat poison
spoons a tiny smidge
into a glass of water

just enough to rip her guts out
make her want to die
not
enough to kill her

lights a candle
tips back her head
pours it down her throat in one long gulp

reminds herself
how
when love ends
it's
so much worse
than this

© Joan Barton, 1999

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