Valentine’s Day.
She said no.
And not a nice no, a cold one.
The kind that makes the drive home feel like going to war.

Back then I lived in the basement
With a single egress window that would flood
When the downpour became a torrent.
I saw owl-gray clouds already.
Hell, the snow hadn’t even fully melted
From the winter storm a week before.
Thus the backyard had been a white-littered canvas
Even today, Valentine’s Day.
Roommates and I, all single.
We all wore love’s scorn,
And in the center of the yard
Our plight manifested into a feverish bonfire,
Undaunted by the winter weather,
But knowing full well the shower it would not withstand,
As all flames are snuffed by rain.

I was passed a bottle,
Firewater,
And I partook in its precipitation.