Tape Measure Poem by Susan Lacovara

How long has it been
Since your words woke me
Spoke to me
As I spooned extra sugar
Into my clear my thoughts coffee

How far did I allow my daydreams to drift
A helium balloon let loose

How many miles did my mind walk
Retracing the steps from then to now
And how many times did I realize
I WAS actually lost
Yet afraid to turn back
I just kept wandering further
Knowing there would be no finish line

How much had I changed
Sometimes I felt my own skin was more ill fitting
Than those faded jeans I refused to part with

I let my hair grow longer
I saw my once cinched in waistline expand
I stopped wearing six inch heels
And found flats seemed appropriately named

I did not tie a yard of yellow ribbon
Around the first handpicked bundle of lilacs
I did not count the days leading to the weekend
I stopped recording how many times
A stone thrown perfectly
Will skip across the lake's surface

In a fitting room
A young woman wrapped her tape measure
Under my arms across my chest
The measurement was less than I remembered...
Perhaps a broken heart allows for inches to fall away