How To: Know He Is Wrong For You

by Anna Gayle

*the first sign should have been the things I heard you say
to your friends. how to: partition a body, until the pieces
resemble a girl who will satisfy you.

*yesterday someone said that you could never tell your
friends you loved me. this is ironic because of how easily
your hands found their way to my hips in front of your
friends. this is ironic because when we were alone you did
not touch me unless you knew how it would end.

*did you predict an ending like this. the only kind I know
how to see through: final and complete. so unlike who you
imagined me to be.

*there are a few things I never imagined you as: caretaker.
on time. satisfied.

*I could not imagine seeing you, for the first time, in early
morning. you existed as midnight. misdiagnosed remedy.
plea for acknowledgement. and who was I? other than
fulfillment. eventual conquest. challenge; jigsaw puzzle;
broken girl.

*I heard that, now, you tell your friends you loved me. and
I have almost returned to myself. I am almost complete. all
I want to know is what you say, when they ask which part.

Anna Gayle is a junior at Andrews University, majoring in digital communication. She is the co-founder and president of Andrews’ poetry club, The Sound. She has been writing poetry since she was a kid, but this is her first time submitting to a journal. Outside of poetry she enjoy reading, listening to music, and eating pasta.

The Roadrunner Review nominated “How To: Know He Is Wrong For You” for a 2019 Best of the Net award.