How to be a stranger (or, What Not to do)

Pretend you 🫣 don’t see them.

Don’t drop their

                                 name
in every conversation.

Block them—
                               on so many channels.

Delete (and lose, and forget)    their number.

Don’t cultivate their friends;
                                                          organise their birthday.

Don’t mind their cat;
                                            receive their mail. 

Don’t store their belongings
all
                    throughout
                                                          your house—
not again.

Don’t tell them you love them, 
                                                               miss them;
don’t ask them to stay,
                                               make them breakfast.

Avoid touch—it’s the plague—
                                                                 pet names.

Stop the world [if it helps] just to stop the feeling.¹

Don’t let them
                              move back in
to head
                 to heart
to home.

Share your life,
         yes!

                just with someone(s) else.

[Also published on Chewers by Masticadores USA.]