Burning Bridges

It's about the complicated relationship we have with destructive behavior. Sometimes, destroying something is good for you, sometimes it isn't. It's about motus operandi. It's kind of about a lot more

The bridge is burning.
I watch it.
The flames lick the horizon.
The smoke stretches, perversely interrupting the clear sky with soot, ash and waves of heat.
I like it.
Some call it arson.
I call it cathartic.
Sometimes you just need to burn it down.
F**k that bridge.
And f**k the people on the other side of it.
I'll find another way across.
A different bridge.
A different place.
With different people.
It might make the trip longer.
It was worth it.
I didn't destroy the bridge.
That was someone else.
I just burned the mother f****r down.
I burn another bridge.
The first time felt so good.
I wanted another.
A bonfire.
An effigy of whatever was on the other side.
Let it burn.
The fire is soothing.
If I burn enough bridges,
I may be satisfied.

Or I won't be.
So I do it again.
Burn another bridge.
Watch another fire.
See the smoke rise.
I still like it.
Eventually, I'll realize that some bridges shouldn't burn.
I should be more careful.
Not today!
I like to watch 'em burn.
Progress, i'll call it.

Some day, I'll figure out
if I'm hindering my own journey,
or simply cutting off the supply routes
for the people who used me.
Both I think.
I'm satisfied.
It was worth it.
The next one will be too.

Author's Note

I guess I hope you see this and feel the release that comes when you've had enough. When enough things go sour. When you are used, or frustrated. When other people tell you not to burn your bridges, that sometimes a bridge really does need to burn. This poem is about straddling the line of taking back control and being taken in by a false sense of empowerment. It's about questioning where we should/ if we should stop with a behavior before it becomes fixation. Unhealthy. Bad for us. It's most of all an exploration about the process that we take through that journey, when you're out of shits to give.

Reviews

[NhanHoang]

woah, that's a bit much, strong poem speaking to me, I like it lol

[willbradley]

haha, thanks! I know it's more intense than need be. But I guess that's what it's about. Feelings that waited to be expressed until they got out of hand.

[wordman]

sometimes we just need to be free