this love story

watercolor of the Tucson Mountains by Rachel Winstead

I am done with all of the goodbyes and
letting go of each aspect of you,
page by page.

soon there will be no pages,
no narrative left.

but the memory of you will stick.

it’s the only part of this book that
I can’t burn away,
not even if I want or need to.

you see here,
along the binding?
there’s no way I’ll forget you.

you’ve been fixed onto my edges.
the memories of you so deep,
they fill the corners and creases.

the parts that hold the story together.