There are certain rules 
One must abide by
In order to survive, a bad boyfriend –

Do not implicate yourself for 
Crimes he committed, 
For the pile of bodies, he continues to 
Accumulate like pill bottles, which never read
His name.

Remember the meaning of your name
Remember why your mother gave it to you
Remember your mother
Remember how strong she is, how strong she believes you to be
Remember your father or any version of such,
Remember, he taught you – love does not hurt like this.
Love is not a plea for life.
Love is not a knife wound.
Love is remembering how safety feels,
How it wraps around your entire body.

Envision your body,
Envision a version of yourself
Which does not use drugs or alcohol to steady a broken heart
Who does not use drugs or alcohol to laugh again,
Because that laughter is not contagious,
But substances to forget memories
Parts you do not like, time and time again – will be.

When you get away, don’t answer your phone.
He will use his voice as a tool to taunt you.
He will say everything he knows will hurt you.
He will play a game with your empathy, mold it like clay to fill
The empty space in his chest. Anything to revive his dead butterflies.

Give yourself time –
And time, and time.
The more distance you place
Between yourself and his face, the more it 
Resembles a ghost
Until he does not haunt you anymore. Until, he
Is just a memory you use to write poetry   

And never, under any circumstances, say,
you’ll go back,
because
you should not go back.