sleater-kinney kind of heartbreak

it’s like when

you stroke your

thumb ever so

gently across rose

petals & no

words can describe

that sensation maybe

velvet comes close

but it’s still

insufficient & here

i am two

decades later trying

to describe what

she felt like

when she kissed

me quite unexpectedly

& i spent

the next day

trying to untangle

my stomach

branded myself

a sinner

not roses

between my lips

i felt shame

*Published in issue six of Stone of Madness Press