Healing Through Poetry: Reflections Post-Breakup

Breakups are monumental events in life. They shake us to our core, leaving behind a whirlwind of emotions that can ebb and flow like the tides. For many, these experiences find a way to be poetic, turning our deepest feelings into something almost transcendent. This article explores the art of healing through the lens of post-breakup poetry. We will delve into two parts of a personal poem and three raw, uncut poems that I wrote during one such experience that shattered my world. These poems are not only reflections of heartache, but also of growth and acceptance.

Prayer for Him

I talk to God about you often, quietly whispering into the silence.

I ask him why he took you away from me, wanting answers in the face of loss.

Things were just getting good, but His response was a lesson in humility.

He says I never owned you to begin with, that you were placed here to show me who I truly am and whom I was meant to be. An experience, he reminds me, is just that—a lesson in life.

Initially, I wasn’t trying to hear this, but after crying over you, missing you, hating you, then loving you, wishing I never met you, and missing you again, I realized He was right as usual.

I cried, writing this poem, praying that even if we never spoke again, you knew I loved you. I hope you know I love you. You do know I love you, right?

Prayer for Her

I talk to God about you often, less perhaps, but still hoping for understanding.

I ask Him why He took you away from me, not knowing you now, even less then.

He says I never really knew you, that the you I thought I knew was too comfortable in a place He never ordained for you. He says you were a distant memory of the old me, and I should appreciate that for what it was, and for showing me who I was and what I no longer wished to be.

Initially, I wasn’t trying to hear this, but after crying over you, missing you, hating you, then loving you, wishing you were a different you, and missing the old you again, I realized He was right so I cried again. I cried while writing this poem, praying that the new you knows you are adored. I hope you feel loved in the most spiritual way, and that you do know you are loved in the most spiritual way, right?

Box of Memories

It’s just a box of odds and ends, photographs with frayed edges, cinema tickets faded from the sun.

We were collectors of moments, curators of laughter, but now it’s an archaeological dig. I sort through the remnants of us, each artifact a chapter, a memory, a touch, a promise.

The box doesn’t close anymore, so I pen one last note to tuck inside, writing a eulogy to us as I seal it with tape.

Messages Sent to Nowhere

I type, I delete. An endless waltz of words. Phantom messages to a ghost in my phone. My thoughts reverberate in the digital void, words that won’t be read, feelings that won’t be felt by you.

Silence echoes louder than any goodbye. Each unseen message a step away, a letting go of threads unseen. Texts to nowhere, a strange comfort in a conversation that’s one-sided. A dialogue with the past, leaving space for a monologue of tomorrow.

The Last Café

We have a graveyard of forgotten coffee cups in a café where echoes of our laughter haunt the corners.

The barista still asks where you’ve gone, and I shrug, hiding behind a forced smile. I sip the bitterness both in my cup and heart.

Our table is occupied by strangers now, oblivious to the scripts we wrote there. Plans, dreams, little lies we loved to believe. I leave a tip and a note, a final goodbye to the memories that linger.

These poems aren’t intended to be profound philosophical musings. They are the raw, uncut stories of the heart, often scribbled down on napkins, anything I could get my hands on in the moment. They are my journey through the phases of heartbreak and healing, written in words that can barely convey the pain and the healing.

Breakups are like personal earthquakes, they shake everything up and what comes out can be quite unexpected, even poetic. Healing through poetry can be an incredible way to navigate the aftermath, providing a sense of catharsis and creating a landscape for reflection and growth.