My Ex Knocked
by A.J. Huffman

​on my front door at midnight, forgetting
the pre-hyphenated portion of his title.
Forgetting I did not live
alone.  Forgetting all the abusive behaviors
of his past.  I answered, furious
at his presumptions.  Furious at my lack
of ammunition.  Blasted him
with words instead.  I did not forget
to remind him Florida is a stand-your-ground
state.  Punctuated with a door slam to his face.
Let the silence that followed echo
like the gunshot that never came.

I Went to Hell
by A.J. Huffman

to meet flames that had already burned
me.  The addict who swore
he was water, that I could not break
him.  He was right.  I was
glass, disappeared
beneath his touch.  The teddy
bear who could not speak three
monosyllabic words.  He pretended
life for six
years, failed
at acting shocked when I pulled
the plug and my support.  The manic
who was really a monster,
devoured my mind, spit
my body out in pieces of sand.
He called me
hourglass, but I was already
empty, expecting
the magicless toll of midnight
to turn us both back into ash.