It's Hard to Apologize to a Cactus

There is a nook between your shoulder and neck
that I forgot about
until you hugged me

After we sat on our old bench and you said again,
"I'm sorry for hurting you"
during that last hateful week between us

I believed the apology this time
Let it hit home,
mostly because I love you more than I'm angry now

If my heart was the fragile kind,
instead of the prickly hedgehog variety
made of gristle and spines,
it would have shattered like a teacup on pavement

It's hard to apologize to the spindles of a cactus

Moving and breathing aches so much more
because I am less angry
and more in love

Life was simplified when I hated you

Easier when I forgot all about that damn nook
in the crook of your neck and shoulder,
where I can breathe you in and it smells like everything we were,

and everything we were supposed to be