Favors (Poem)

Favors

Number one,
Take out the word 'almost' from the dictionary.
Make people mean what they say.
For instance,
Say 'I don't love you'
Instead of 'we almost had it.'
It saves you from thinking about
What you could have done
Who you could have been
Why you're an almost and not a straight answer.

Number two,
Tell the movies to stop lying.
You've built a feeble CD tower
Of romcoms and chick flicks .
Problems are solved with torrid kissing
And a closing sequence.
Names will flash across the screen.
Yours and his won't be there.
It's not your movie.

Number three,
All hearts should be portrayed anatomically.
People have to remember
That the heart is composed of muscles.
It can feel bruised, but it's never broken
And it can learn to heal.
Know that the heart is not just one room-
It's a whole house.
You can let more than one person in.
People can stay.
People can go.
Stop counting their steps.
Dance to their footprints
Even they lead outside the door.
But
When you're missing
The sound of his heartbeat as you lay across his chest,
Remember that you have a pounding drum that you own.
That your own heart keeps you alive, and not his.

Number four,
Forever should become a specific point in time.
So people won't get mad when 'Forever ends' because, well, it does now.

Number five,
Open a birdcage for every heart bruised.
Go outside and watch the sky darken
As birds
Find new homes,
Only to be caged again.
Melt the birdcages.
Hope that the birds
Learn to stay away from traps.
Hope that people
Learn from the birds, too.

Number six,
Close
The door when you leave.
Forget all the things he gave you;
Take the pictures from the wall
Find a better place for them
In the fireplace
Or in between a doll and needle.
I don't care.
Get rid of all the things that
Smell like him.
Throw them in the fire.
If he takes so much space in your head
Toss him in the fireplace, too.

Number seven,
Do yourself a favor,
Know that favors
Are only done by the willing.
If not, they become commands.
Loving is done by the willing.
If not, it's just wrong wanting.
Do yourself a favor.
If there's anyone who needs
More love from you

• it's you.