(I started working on this a month ago during a trip through Valentine, Texas. It’s not quite there, but the second half of it is making itself known to me & I thought to share it, even though it’s still evolving.)

***

Driving through the desert

where the road ahead seemed to glisten

with water,

I found myself

imagining how heartbreaking it would be

after so many

cracked and brittle days crawling across

dry

earth toward water

to find

it was never there.

You looked like water in the desert to me then. 

But as

I’ve come to know:

water was never your element. 

Today, I announced

that I am over you &

no sooner had I said it than

my eyes started to burn, but no tears came. 

Sunday at lunch, I joked

about the gross scab on your arm &

the waitress,

passing by, said,

“that’s real love.” 

So the burning in my eyes

today shouldn’t have

shocked me so—

isn’t the saying, “where there’s smoke…?”