Chloe Hyer Poet Free verse

Unlearning you

It doesn’t happen all at once.
 The forgetting.
 The un-loving.
 The soft undoing of a name I used to whisper like a prayer.
It starts quiet.
 Like a drawer that won’t close all the way,
 a song I skip instead of cry to,
 your hoodie in the back of my closet
 finally getting dusty.
It starts in silence.
 When I stop checking if you watched my story.
 When I stop writing messages I’ll never send.
 When your face becomes background noise
 instead of the whole damn screen.
I used to ache —
 physically.
 Like my ribs cracked open and you were living between them.
 But now it’s duller.
 A soreness, not a stabbing.
 Like a bruise that’s yellowing.
 Fading.
 Letting go.
And it’s not because you said sorry.
 You didn’t.
 And it’s not because it stopped hurting.
 It didn’t.
 It just changed.
One day I realized
 I didn’t miss you.
 Not really.
 I missed the version of me who believed you meant it.
 Who thought forever wasn’t just
 something people say to feel less alone at night.
I’m learning
 that moving on isn’t fire.
 It’s not burning it all down,
 it’s water.
 It’s waves that keep washing you away
 until you’re just
 gone.
And some days,
 I still reach for you
 out of habit.
 But most days,
 I don’t.
 And that’s how I know—
I’m healing.
 Not fast.
 Not pretty.
 But finally.

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