Erica’s Poem – Getting to Know Your Brain After a Breakup

Well,

It’s you and me at the end of the day.

It was you and me, and him.

Now it’s just you and me. Or should I say us?

You, my brain.

Me, my being.

 

Have you always been so filled with thoughts?

How did you manage before without a release?

Were you capable of content in the stillness of night?

 

It feels like a typewriter churning out endless sentences and the spool of paper piles on the pavement but all I want is for it to stop.

And for you to rest.

And for you to take a break

But make no mistake I don’t mean forever I just mean to breathe. In, and out.

 

My breath goes, my mind flows but the words stay in like they’re stuck behind a dam because it’s just you and me. And not you and me and him.

 

He who broke the dam and flooded the plains and picked up the splinters and mopped the puddles and told you, “I love all of your brain.”

Now I’m here, on my own, and the dam is ready to burst.

 

So it looks like it’s just you and me.

And this paper and pen.

If this is the sponge that I need to soak in and process and wring out these thoughts until I feel clear.

 

Then I guess I will take it.

It’s better than nothing.