Bitter Congratualtions

This Valentine’s Day, I’m happy to report I’m in a healthy, loving relationship. But it took a lot of bad experiences to get here.
For A.F. Stuart’s Bloody Valentine Horror Event, I’m going to share an old poem, on the theme of Bad Love. Taken from my latest book, The Love Poems, here is one I call Bitter Congratulations:

I have a lot of reasons to still be bitter against you
As far as I see it
You did a lot of wrong to me
No matter how much you try and deny it
But one thing that boils my blood
Causes anger for myself to rise up in my chest
More so than fury for you
Is that you dug a little too deeply
So far I can’t scratch you out
Your name is hidden in crevices in my soul
Never to be spoken about
Never acknowledged in the light of day
Yet still there To slip out in the most private moments
On the tip of my tongue
At the pinnacle of losing control
It comes out
Those two little syllables
Riding the crest of the wave of my ecstasy
Tarnishing it
Like you tarnished my life
Congratulations
You’ve ruined me