By Gala
Date: 5 January 2001

Bitch.

It took you 17 years
of the 19 we shared
to say that word to me---
not that you never use such language,
or maybe every once in a while think it---
but it shook me.
Bitch.
You didn't yell it---
you spoke it quietly
yet each letter dripped
a venom that made my blood
flow icy all at once.
Bitch.
And i was aware
as the sound of it died
that it had been years
since I love you
had been spoken
with that same intensity.
Bitch.
That was the first time---
but not the last,
and I'm not quite sure
when it hurts more,
when you draw it again
like a verbal knife
or I just see it smoldering
in your eyes.
Bitch.
You know, I mustn't be all that good
at being a bitch
if it took you that long to call me one.
And that word did it's work
though it took two years more
for the poison to finish the job.
And now you look me in the eye
and say you never meant
to kill my love stone cold dead?
Liar.

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