One poem by Ariel K. Moniz

To the Girl Whom I Gave My Whole Bloody Heart,Who Left it in a Paper Bag at a Bus Stop on Her Way Out of Town

You pretended to be interested in anatomy

when really, you just like to see things break.

You said you were into poetry

but you just wanted someone to hear you.

When you say love, it’s a dissection

when I say love, it’s a resurrection.

You walk out of people’s lives, take buses

and pack bags, because reality is uncomfortable.

You think that if you run, one day

you’ll make it out alive, past love and truth

and you’ll never get caught up

in being a part of something or someone.

Keep running

with the copper kiss of my heart

under your fingernails, smeared promise

across the palms of your lonely hands.

The world is round.

If you keep running,

you’ll come back this way

eventually.

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Ariel K. Moniz (she/her) is a lifelong writer, poet, and avid reader. Her writing has most recently been published with Bloodbath Literary Zine, The Raven Review, and Sunday Mornings at the River Press, among others. You can find her on her on Instagram @kiss.of.the.seventh.star, Twitter @kissthe7thstar, or her website kissoftheseventhstar.home.blog