Blackout Poetry Notes

One Short Life

It's true, I want
something.
I want to exhaust this
one short life.

Relentless self-scrutiny is not
so easily changed.
Obsessive inner discomfort
can be compulsive
and bring feelings of shame
with oneself.

People criticize a woman
who gives up love,
yet no one criticizes the man
for the same story.
The woman bears the blame
in love and life.

All that time
in a forest and I found nothing
but beautiful grace.

Regret was a familiar feeling,
a comfortable blur
of thoughts
that felt hopeless.

Good or bad, there's every
reason for hope
in this existence.

You could have predicted
what happened next - 
I shouldn't listen to all that
fairy-tale crap.

You threw me away,
I loved you to the point
of distraction.
More than anything,
imagine that.
We were so intimate
I could puke.

The kind of stuff
we have is a
once-in-a-lifetime love.

Don't compare.
It can move you
to regret.