Poetic Therapy (a series) #4 - Life exposed

Love is a life experience that will set you ablaze, burn you, and leave you with painful scars. This was my experience with what I thought was love. My broken, tormented heart waged a successful war against my emotions and my thoughts. Hurt associated with romantic love was not dealt with appropriately and the baggage from my previous relationships got in the way of true love. Love is painful indeed. Getting to the point of ending a romantic relationship is an overwhelming task. This line from Grief and Loss Across the Lifespan: A Biopsychosocial Perspective speaks to the truth about my experience with romantic breakups: “breakups of romantic relationships are frequently followed by intense grief” (Walter and McCoyd 154). It’s no wonder why some people go through depression after a romance ends. This also explains why I found it difficult to be the person to initiate a breakup.

Long Distant Goodbye – a prose

The previous eclipsed moons shared will be memories. I hope I remain in your frontal lobe where old age can’t attack and where the hippocampi recall. Your place is 800-899, lodged in 811 or 812, depending on the day. Verbal collections are cataloged, because that is all I will have of you. Today, as I call, silent and clear lines, like rain on a window, marks their territory on my face. The background static buzzes as the words catch in my voice box. I don't have the courage to say it, so without a word, the receiver is pressed. The phone is cradled – no goodbyes today.

My relationship with my husband has grown to be the best relationship I have. It has also been (at times) the most difficult relationship I’ve pushed to keep. The passion and connection we share wouldn’t allow us to untie the knot. In the darkest and most painful moments in our dating relationship, I wished he had the courage to end our courtship, and a few times he did. There are two times I felt moved to initiate a breakup with my husband when we were dating. The first attempt went unexecuted, but I documented my thoughts and feelings in the form of the prose poem. It felt fitting to craft these words in long sentences. The structure taken with this poem mimics the emotional rollercoaster I went through. Our relationship is filled with romantic poetry and at times when tension is high, it’s like a drama scene from a Broadway musical. Poetry exposes life.

• McCoyd, J. L. M., Koller, J. M., & Walter, C. A. (2021). Grief and loss across the lifespan: A biopsychosocial perspective (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company. https://doi.org/10.1891/9780826149640