A Book About Breakups

Romantic relationships end. New lovers take the place of those who came before them. For many of us, this will happen again and again and again.

The end—that protracted period of angst—is an integral part of the relationship, one that reflects and refracts how it started, too. Why are we afraid to say out loud that “forever” rarely is?

In this book, twelve writers furrow the texture of those months, days, and heartbeats when they realized it was over—and the swirl of contradictory emotions that come after the break. Do you believe in life after love?

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Inside

When did it start to go wrong?
(Foreword)

I want to
Tell you
Something (heartbreaking), but
I’m not sure
It is in me.
J·A

I guess I was eager to get along and now I stared into the face
of a tidal wave and couldn't say, Oh, well,
I like the idea of surfing.
J·S

Your bodies grow and collapse involuntarily. Full of hot air.
A·L

A knotted life that doesn’t get to be undone Who here has
a clear, linear rope? Denial! You have to love yr knots
T·P

Are you wondering if cheating on your girlfriend bars you forever from
getting respectably paid and
ethically minded employment?
A·S

The metaphor was too obvious, I said. The wounded bird. We tried to save it but it was dying anyway. If this were fiction nobody would buy it.
D·N

I don’t want children;
I want the freedom to be broke and dumb
J·S

I’m clutching my tissue like a Roman rosary praying I pass on my sickness to him.
M·K

You said, I like the way we look walking together down the street.
I often thought about how we admired and desired ourselves in each other.
K·J

When I said, ‘See you in August,’
you said, ‘What?’
J·S

the new you is not interested in being or becoming or maybe you are becoming something but that thing you are becoming is a smoker
J·A

you told me you had been abused in
every way
and used your fingers to indicate how
many ways
Z·K

I would’ve bought my first issue of Cosmo
the night after I would’ve seen your dick for the first time
and you could’ve told me to use my mouth.
R·K·O

and is it us,
or is it me and you,
or you and me?
A·O

What came later was better, then worse; we undulated in and out of focus, too close for our eyes to adjust.
M·C

Utopia

J·S

Love letters to our contributors

___________

Editors
Kira Josefsson & Julia Alsop

Designer
Sara Duell, Pallas Athena LLC

Proofreaders
Madeline Coleman & Amelia Schonbek

Writers
Julia Alsop, Madeline Coleman, Kira Josefsson, Mitra Kaboli, Zoe Koke, Anna Leocha, Drew Nelles, Anny Oberlink, Tommy Pico, RKO, Jeff Sanford & Artemis Shaw

Cover photo
Mayan Vered

Illustrations
Maggie Prendergast

Title
Jeff Sanford

The cover pattern is white canvas dyed with black beans and avocado.

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info@OverWhenYouSaidWhat.com

Produced by Topos Press in Queens,
New York, 2017.

Topos Press is a small press run under the aegis of
Topos Bookstore in Ridgewood, Queens.

All text copyright © the authors.
All images copyright © the image makers.