Self Immolation
Woman is faithful (she waits), man is fickle (he sails away, he cruises).
It is Woman who gives shape to absence.
– Roland Barthes
Let me be loud in my suffering:
I will never forgive you
for burning the rope of story-
communication cut off
this time, I will set myself on fire
ablaze, I go
the boiling and char of the skin you once touched
in front of you,
try looking away from me
its always been the two of us, I
willingly conquered; you
aloofing-ly accepting,
will always be here
in between
filling the air of
sweet, sweaty pheromones
and what could have been? only
hoping now, maybe
you’ll take notice
at what has been lost
and what has transcended the mystic
of my own ashes.
Evelyn Rodriguez is a Chicana poet and writer from the Inland Empire. She is also a student at the University of California-Riverside. Her work has appeared in Pacific Review and A Muse ‘Zine. Rodriguez writes about her lived experience and keen observations of the world around her, all while embracing its beauty and messiness. Rodriguez is also a collector of many silly trinkets and loves to accessorize her belongings with stickers.
