Exit Stage Right Poem by Katherine Rhodes

i’m sorry about before

sometimes you make me so angry
but i have no right to be
and that bothers me even more
and i wish that i could just
exit the stage of the scene that you’re in
but i know i'd never want that
and i’d hope you’d never want that either
but i don’t know what to say anymore
because you've hurt me
and you've hurt me
and you've hurt me again
and i'm learning to realize that this may be my role in life

sometimes i think, if i tell him about all the times
that i'm reminded of him, will he miss me?
will he remember me?
and sometimes i think, if i act like i don’t need him,
will he see the opportunity for a chase?
will he think of me?
and then the shiver runs down my back
and the tears fill my eyes
because i already know the answers
i already know that i just don’t make the cut

so each night i say my goodbyes
to pieces of us, of our past
trying to let you go, bit by bit
line by line
word by word
because it’s your words that stay with me
that world of words that we tried to create

but trying to let go, and letting go are very different