Grapefruit-Scented Face Wash

Feeling loss

Is a natural release.

It is sorrow that flows effortlessly.

To lose people who were never really your friends,

Is like exfoliating dead skin;

There’s still a little trauma

Where the new flesh is slightly red and tender

From it happening so suddenly and a bit roughly and all at once.

My world is now smaller, but better and brighter.

I am not lonely;

Simply alone.

The path is clear,

The ground is firm,

My gait is steady,

My shoes are new

yet broken-in.

My hand is empty.

No one is holding it,

But I still feel whole.

I am ready to step forward

Through the messy papery clutter,

Where the ground is littered

With receipts and old party favors.

I step on them with my sturdy, sure feet,

My pasts, my old lives, my vintage traumas, trampled,

But I still stride easily.

Not stopping to pick anything up…

Anyways

The trash man comes on Wednesday.