Between Bruises & Blooms

Consent did not expire
when I left you.

Read that again.

Leaving
did not rewrite
the agreement.

Breaking your heart
did not revoke
my right
to my own body.

Anger
did not make
my photographs yours.

Jealousy
did not become permission.

Humiliation
was not something
you were entitled
to collect
because I stopped
choosing you.

I chose
to give those images
to one person.

You.

At one time.

Inside one relationship.

That choice
did not somehow
include an invisible clause
saying

unless we break up.

Unless you hate me.

Unless you want revenge.

Unless strangers
are watching.

Consent
is not a subscription
you keep
after the woman
cancels it.

And maybe
you understood that.

Maybe that was
the entire point.

Maybe violating
the boundary
was the only way
you knew
to punish me
for finally having one.

But I need you
to understand something—

you did not
take ownership
of my body.

You only proved
why I had to take
my life
back from you.