Sleater-Kinney Kind of Heartbreak
by Tiffany Shaw-Diaz
it’s like when
you stroke your
thumb ever so
gently across rose
petals & no
words can describe
that sensation maybe
velvet comes close
but it’s still
insufficient & here
i am two
decades later trying
to describe what
she felt like
when she kissed
me quite unexpectedly
& i spent
the next day
trying to untangle
my stomach
branded myself
a sinner
not roses
between my lips
i felt shame
Tiffany Shaw-Diaz is a Pushcart Prize and Dwarf Stars Award nominee who also works as a professional visual artist. Her poetry has been featured in Modern Haiku, The Heron’s Nest, Bones, NHK World Haiku Masters, The Mainichi, and more than 100 other publications. Her chapbooks include: says the rose (Yavanika Press 2019), filth (Proletaria 2020), and tyranny of the familiar (Yavanika Press 2020). You can find her on Instagram and Twitter via @tiffanyshawdiaz or through her website: www.tiffanyshawdiaz.com.