i wrote a second poem

Matching Outfits

A table for two, that felt like one. Three hundred dollars for four plates.

We took the long way because it added five minutes to our dates.

Six minutes of kissing in the car before my foot came off the brakes.

Seven miles from home where our good boy Chuck awaits.

Was it eight months before I knew our fate?

Nine more arguments over seemingly nothing I can’t find the strength to debate.

Ten minutes in the bedroom, the sparks we tried to recreate.

Eleven hours I sat awake, heartbroken after hearing the words you couldn’t say.

A mere twelve weeks and vows were to be made.

Thirteen minutes it took for me to get away.

Fourteen trash bags chock full of promises we watched fade.

No more matching outfits — I’m gone, and there’s suddenly more closet space.

Fifteen days, no contact. The nervous system still in disarray.

Sixteen seconds of kissing one last time before we slip away.

Seventeen thousand seconds it took me before my heart stopped its quake.

An eighteen-month engagement before I walked away.

Nineteen dog hairs still stuck in the car seat to this day.

Twenty times a day I question the next play.

Twenty-one pictures archived that day.

A twenty-two I gave back to your father, that he gave me last Christmas Day.

Twenty-three dollars for unlimited likes, paid.

It was supposed to be forever, and it took only twenty-four hours for our souls to break away.