I remember the murder of crow feasting on roadkill,
the reek from the swine farm we passed,
the sunflower tilting their heads for the rain.
I remember the radio playing “Crush with Eyeliner”
… as there was nothing more to be said.
I remember how I carried your bags…
how the handles cut into my hand and then how you smiled
… as if it was painless to leave.
I remember driving back from the airport … alone.
Frank wants us to portray heartbreak at dVerse today. This is a scene I can feel but have not really been through… bits and pieces but not the complete heartbreak. Also linking to the Tuesday Platform at toads
Björn Rudbergs writings 
Very well described with that smile that looked as if it were painless for someone to leave.
Thank you… I think true heartbreak is hidden by smiles.
I really appreciated the visceral imagery at the beginning and how the sights and sounds moved you from disgust, to repulsion, to sorrow, to loss, which is often how disappoint in a relationship progresses from the first moments of frustration to the final surrender of hope.
Ah. I remember the day I really did drive back from the airport alone having seen my lover off to Japan. It is hard drive to make. I like the beginning of this so much, the murder of crows feasting on roadkill.
bits and pieces, memories jagged and torn, displaced – elements that once hold innocuous, if perhaps unpleasant, associations, suddenly, in a surreal fashion, take on a more sinister, darker aspect –
using these images, these metaphors, portrays a vivid enough scene – of both pain and indifference, and yet – can we ever be sure of the “truth” – as you’ve noted, “behind smiles” …
even if you personally haven’t experienced the sum totality of the experience, you’ve still captured its essences in fine form
The last day of Summer precedes the first day of Fall. Very well depicted.
After a break-up, we may attempt to remain “friends”, but when the dust has cleared, it’s the emotions, the heart that prevails. Your slice of heartbreak feels so real secondary to your sensual recall.
Real heartbreak in part or all, you take us along on the drive to the airport …. and on t he return trip alone. Poignantly drawn words, Bjorn.
Sorrowful – accented with such dark imagery. Well done.
This reads like a diary entry of a heartbreak that I went through. I love the description of the drive, and all of its harrowing experiences — no memories of any shared smiles, companionable silences or jokes, no attempt to be civil, just these heartbreaking sights and smells. Gave me the chills! Great poem.
Bjorn- so sad. Wow humans are layers and layers of feelings…
That smile…painless for those who are leaving, devastating for those who are left.
You speak beautifully of the heartbreak of goodbyes.
ah, it’s like a film unrolling and you already know how it is going to end and that makes the pain of heartbreak all the more effective. I liked the gentle sway of it and those breaks and ellipsis for effect.
the single word “alone” says it all — a perfect closing.
-HA
You really catch the mood in this, flashes of relevance as opposed to a focused poem.
Stark, and very good.
the cut of the handles into the palms almost numbing the pain and the smile, that smile can numb our hearts too. good portrayal of heartbreak through smiles.
so many excellent lines, details, description, and then that hitting of “alone.” So well done!
The sense of sound you employ in this poem, especially with the song reference, definitely intensified the emotions.
Parting is such sorrow! You leave us hanging on for more. Great Poem.
Oh that was so nicely done Bjorn..wasn’t expecting the airport bit at the end!
Breaking heart has no sound, but the various scenarios created in the poem, speak so much.
I love how you’ve captured that hollow feeling that sits in the stomach when you can’t handle the pain and so you focus on anything you can to avoid accepting the inevitable. It’s there in the juxtaposition of the ‘murder of crow feasting on roadkill’ and the reek of the pig farm’ with ‘the sunflower tilting their heads for the rain’, and the music and ‘nothing more to be said’.
Parting is such a painful thing especially when one is hiding behind a smile when they would rather be crying .. sigh.. achingly beautiful write ❤
how the handles cut into my hand and then how you smiled
… as if it was painless to leave.
the contrast here, between the lover and the leaver. Well done.
Sarah, I cannot find your poem posted… the link does not work from Mr Linky.
Oh, I don’t know what happened there. Sorted now, I think.
Heartbreaking, indeed. I’ve experienced a different version of this..excruciating.
I have a most strong aversion to the moment of parting. It quite undoes me, so I feel every line strongly.
Something about summer. It seems to always leave us sad. Nicely captured.
Damn that opening! Really sets the stage for that hollow, eaten-alive feeling people sometimes have after a breakup.
I can feel the pain – I do love the bit about the sunflowers tilting towards the rain, one can see the withering of the bloom.
Parting is painful, as the flowers attest.
Wonderful lines in this, love it.
Extreme heartbreak or joy? My line was the CW song, “Thank God and Greyhound (bus line here) she’s gone.” But I didn’t carry her suitcase, now way.
..
A beautiful and sad consideration of a summer love affair.
You had me at the opening stanza, Bjorn! And then brought me to tears with your last stanza and closing line! Beautiful and heartbreaking! Sorry I’m so late commenting.