I Met You on My Journey By Jackie Chou

 I Met You on My Journey 

By:- Jackie Chou 

I met you on my journey

because I had no choice

drawn to your magenta lips

until you revealed your fangs

Chomp, chomp, chomp

I let you chew me to bits

my infantile heart to satisfy 

your carnivorous desires

The nymph that I was

I picked up the pieces 

and glued them back together 

without cutting my fingers

Then I discarded you

and guarded myself

against your lies

and your put-downs

For I am older now

old enough to discern

the woman 

from the beast

Jackie Chou is a neurodivergent writer from Southern California who has two collections of poetry, The Sorceress and Finding My Heart in Love and Loss, published by cyberwit.  Her poem "Formosa" was a finalist in the Stephen A DiBiase Poetry Prize.  She also has poems published in Synchronized Chaos, Ekphrastic Poetry Review,  Panoply Zine, Alien Buddha Zine, and Spillwords.