I can’t outrun the damage you’ve done to me.
It’s been a while since I’ve tried to.

Distance makes the heart grow forgiveness.
It twisted through my arteries,
setting an easy air of seperation.
A smile for a phone call.
Forked into the devil’s tongue.
It will leave me ill
but at ease. 

Captivity makes the sleeping wolf rabid.
The chord of fear
struck through my body
since I was a little girl.

a doll
a Little Mermaid book
and two matchbox cars
in a drawer
in a room
at a party.

It’s what I don’t remember that scares me.

But what I do remember 
is the primal need
to get out of that run-down black car
as you took an unfamiliar speed
down familiar streets.
Angry like a car crash
that I simultaneously prayed
would and wouldn’t come.