How We Love People We Once Loved"
When I tell you I don’t love you anymore
neither of us can tell if I’m lying.
If old habits die hard then bad habits
die harder and this is on par with 3 packs a day.
This is on par with a bottle before breakfast.
Old love tricks us I think. There is nowhere to put it.
So it lies on the bottom of your heart
and shivers.
My body remembers you too well.
My insides light up like the traitors they are
when you cross the street in front of me
and it takes a full five minutes for my brain to catch up.
You don’t love him anymore, remember?
Or you shouldn’t, remember?
Or you’re fucking stupid if you do, remember?
So ask me again.
Ask me if I still love you.
I don’t think so.
But if I do,
it’s less like champagne and stars
and more like faded Polaroids.
More like the weight of the sun
pressing down on the horizon every afternoon.
More like the way you have to cut a tree open
to see how old it is.
Less like love
and more like that detached way you love people you once loved.
~ Fortesa Latifi
