This amputee heart aches
from a thousand tiny phantom kisses,
memories
with sharp fangs
and an appetite for loneliness.

They come in the middle of the night,
when my blood runs cold
in your absence.

If I shut my eyes,
I can imagine you’re really there
beside me,
sending fireworks crackling across my skin
and chills down my
spine.

But I force myself to keep them open,
and these chills
are for a different reason entirely.

Because you were the first
handsome stranger
I let run away with my heart.

My mama warned me about you.

Still, it didn’t know any better,
and really,
you should have.

How can cruelty look so beautiful?
So easy?
(It isn’t fair.)

Now I’m just another tally mark
on your score sheet.

And I’d ask for my love back,
but you’ve probably already thrown it away,
abandoned along the side of the road
next to a half-eaten bag of Cheetos
and cigarette buds.