I just thought I’d let you know,

I fed all our memories

to the shimmery baby fish

at PetSmart.

I sprinkled a handful

in the goldfish tank,

letting their thirty-second brains

erase all the shit

my mind still tries to

hold on to.

It would be funny though,

wouldn’t it,

if the Beta fish

did something different and

started to look at me

like you used to?

Like instead of losing it

they were just grateful to

reminisce about a

warmth that will never

touch their fins?

What if just one fickle romantic

could hold out long enough

to remember the way

we loved?

I think she’d swim

to the edge of her tank,

longing for my touch and pray

in another life she’ll have

soft hipbones

for me to kiss.

But separated by glass

and communication

and the fact that she breathes

a different air than I do,

I know she’d

only feel the same heartache

I’m desperately trying to pass off

onto someone else.