Photo by David Todd McCarty on Unsplash

garlic or instructions for a love not lived

don’t take a knife to the bulb
pull it apart with your hands
put a clove between forefinger
and thumb squeeze the skin
until it relents, softens
like lavender crepe

the timestamp on the photo
change it to the date
we snapped, a ghost day
after our spirits split
focus in on the blue haze
in the graveyard of how

I never cut fine slices in haste
you always crush under a blade
skin intact over bruising flesh
ivory walls stifle escape
scent betraying
our unclaimed guilt and sorrow

what kind of mutilation
permission to freely offend?
we are unworthy wielding this power
let’s go back charged, imagine
ready to take it, run wild together
and cover ourselves in garlic