The past left a bruise on my thigh -

never go back to that moment in time

of slapped faces and torn butterfly wings,

white washed space of microseconds flown

elapsed time hung on the wall, fallen to ground.

I rewind the time – don’t belong in that place,

walking backward past the bright city lights,

flames of the future burning brighter around me.

          I’m packin’ my bags and movin’ on

Starting the next chapter by reading the last-

won’t be defined by the things I am not.

Saving my heartbeats to buy new moments

before gravity sucks me to the edge of

crooked picture frame memories on cracked wall.

Spitting hovering ghost of my past onto the ground,

throwing from shoulders weighted sandbag of sin.

          I’m packin’ my bags and movin’ on

Wearing the world on my back like angel wings,

leaving travail as a survivor swimming through rivers,

footprints of time moving forward in synchronized steps.

I take deep breaths to suffocate words never uttered.

galloping toward the brisk wind of future waiting for me

          I’m packin’ my bags and movin’ on

the particles in the air

                    have shifted

the humidity

                    has

                              dropped

the wind blows

                    direction other the

my mind reels

through the same

thoughts

a multitude

of other ways

I could've professed

but no matter

how I attempt

to rewrite our history

you’ll never love me

as I love you

You'd made fake "claws" out of paper

You leaned forward and scratched me

Your sleeve slid down to reveal hospital bracelets

You were recovering, they said.

You made eye contact with me, 

Your eyes told a different story

I saw pain in them

The last time, they were angry. Scathing. 

I was afraid you hated me. 

What more can I say, all my poems are about you

They all try to recapture you but you're just a figment

A moment in space and time 

A time when I was young

A time when I was full of love.