The Cleanse

[Achebe]

...the series of fragmented phrases and and poems that spilled from myself in the aftermath, "There are so many ways to say, 'Narcissist.'"  Probably better kept in my notebook; let me know ;P.

Definitely better out than in! Love is the greatest of the emotions that inspire poetry, scientifically speaking. The dopamine rush that love brings, and the withdrawal symptoms when that fix is denied, are probably the most intense experiences we go through in our lives. The only other comparable emotion I can think of is religious ecstasy.
The memory of that pleasure and pain remains with us long after we fall out of love. So these past experiences become a deep source of inspiration for writing throughout our lives. Yeats and Maud Gonne, Dante and Beatrice, Shakespeare and Gwyneth Paltrow...

Having said that, poetry is all about disciplined chaos, so fragments and bits and bobs must be made to fit in a structure that makes for a pleasant read.

You made yourself out to be
lush ground beneath my feet,
a place to rest,
an earthen reprieve
to my grasping through trees; ....she's like a patch of grass to rest on, a reprieve through your grasping through the trees? You have two metaphors here (she, the lush ground and your grasping through the trees), which are not connected in any logical way.
the clearing from my dreams. ...the clearing (i assume you're talking about the neat patch of grass metaphor) from, or in your dreams? 

But love,
liar, fool, thief;
what business have you in my dreams,
my softened thoughts,
these chambers of my sleep? ...a chamber is a room, so the sleep can be a chamber of your dreams, but I fail to see how the metaphor works the other way round

Scorched earth,
smoke rising;
this is the cleansing of you
from me. ...but weren't your dreaming about lush ground and grasping through a forest just before this? Confusing