Bethlehem Steel - Cold and Colder

A woman's poems reacting to the end of a relationship. At first she is desolate (cold), lost and humiliated. Then (colder) her immune system kicks in and, realizing she is also a character in her story, not powerless, but a co-creator, she begins to stand up for herself and assert her right to life. Excerpt:perhapsit was all the same to himshe thoughtthat he careened through lifeleaving her moreor lessExcerpt:this engine of silenceturns and grindsmy wheels of desireburns fires of longingmelts me into red hotremembrance lavaExcerpt:can love show me howto love myself?will love fall like rainmoisen mea sproutto grow again?to love myselfExcerpt:dreams are seedshe holds his dreams to himselffertilizing no onehe would rather feel rejectedthan let go and vent his dreamspermanentlyin the dust