hush now love
don’t do this
stop reaching out to touch everything you find pretty
with your too full hands
resist the urge to crank up the heat
you know it’ll only melt what’s left of this away
Tag: Love / Heartbreak
obviously any poems about love, heartbreak, and relationships
ocean [poem]
in a world where love is
the act of diving into the ocean
without looking for sharks
I am both
the woman who moves further inland
when faced with coastal rainstorms
and the unseen creature
living at the bottom of the marianas trench
that has absolutely no desire to see the light
that is to say
I find love to be an inhospitable home
I can’t climb out of or into fast enough
stanzas [poem]
you asked me if I’ve written poems about you
as if there were any answer but
yes
of course love
my nails have scraped stanzas down your spine
where only I can read them
panromantic love [poem]
Love
I don’t care what kind of body will hold you
as long as that body is willing to hold this body
I’ve given up all pretense of fitting in
stopped shaving things people expect to be hairless
stopped worrying about this size and shape
except for when it affects my happiness
so why would I care what body you call home
other than to know where to lay my head down at night
once I finally meet you?
confusing splendor [poem]
I hope my words bring you the best of things
and the worst
I hope you feel hurt
feel a reflective guilt in the places where
you can see your own sins
I hope you feel empty
feel the hollow echo resonating
between our two souls
I hope you feel cracked open and raw
exposed to the core
and then
I hope you feel the scabbing over
of those wounded places inside of you
I hope you feel a healing itch to live a little harder
feel the desire to embrace forgiveness
without forgetting why it’s necessary in the first place
I hope you feel happiness
feel the glow left behind by a good long laugh
feel love again
for yourself
for someone else
for living
I hope my words bring you life
in all its confusing splendor
our song [poem]
an aching pit of anger burns in my soul
when I think of you
listening to the lines of a song you once sang
and I remember being happy with you
the betrayer
you’re the only one who still
holds such a heated place in my core
the coward long since ejected and
the liar’s words unheard thanks to willfully deaf ears
but you have always been special
the anomaly
I want to freeze you out
until the frostbite blackens bits of your heart
into rotten nothingness
I want you in agony
your sins
liquid nitrogen on unprotected skin
my fury is a deadly beast
vicious and starving for a kill
but all I really want most days is to turn on the radio
and forget to hear your voice
when the song starts to play
love without the words [poem]
my head rests on your chest
your slow inhale and exhale a soothing lullaby
in the quiet of the room
I consider it
as my fingers trace your hipbone
mapping your body into my memory
I think about the words I keep
locked inside my ribcage
the kind of prisoners with Stockholm syndrome
who don’t ever want to escape their prison
I wonder what they’d mean to you
whether you’d hear a reason to hold me close
or one really good excuse to let me go
I stopped labeling the things I give people anymore
figured it was better to let them call it
simply kindness or friendship or just plain fun
better to be burdened by the words they choose
than banished for my own
and so I kiss your shoulder and bite my tongue
because I like it in your arms
even if it’s all I can have
at least with silence I get to keep this
favorite things [poem]
my favorite color is green
I love the way it symbolizes life and toxicity at the same time
all depending on context and shade
I believe in putting pineapples and anchovies on pizza
as long as it’s not both on the same slice
I cry for other people’s happy endings
thanks to overly sympathetic tear ducts and a wide open heart
my favorite song changes with my mood
but it will often be annoyingly catchy
I’m sorry in advance for that
I see the best in people
because the average stranger is not an asshole
contrary to popular belief
I jump from interest to interest in days
but I will always circle back eventually
it’s the way I let myself explore this world and all its offerings
I know love is real the same way I know to breathe
an instinct that comes naturally
I think loving you will be my new favorite thing
journal entry [poem]
I found a journal entry today that was all about you
I wanted to tear out the old pages
and crumple them up
toss away the evidence of my hopeless love
like the garbage it turned out to be
but I left the entries
as a reminder
that I’ve always known love
bigger than those who I share it with
that love is not synonymous with happiness
or good or light or holy
that words are the first weapons
thrust into our hands almost from birth
and they can become sniper rifle or poison
depending on which words we arm ourselves with today
I unlearned blind trust by your hands
my eyes bloodshot but functional
you taught me that too
how to be functional
even when it stings
see you somedays [poem]
this is it
the last poem in a long line of see you somedays
scribbled across scrap paper
from here
there is only the wait
the hush of a centered soul finding itself
in the hustle and bustle of everyday living
my life is not on hold
love
you’ll notice that right away
I’ve been pursuing my dreams
while you worked your way toward me
our paths couldn’t cross unless I kept walking forward
and so I did
every step is worth it
to reach the day you read this poem
from the book I wrote
before I knew
your name
decent man [poem]
my father is a decent man
who sometimes makes unkind choices
he is the man who fell in love with a new mother
and took in her child as his own
his courtship included date nights with
a baby along for the ride rather than a babysitter
and some time alone
he is the man who raised a daughter
without any sign of being anything but blood
never letting her feel less than wanted
he is the man who never left his family wanting
his steady shoulders bearing them through lean times
without complaint
but
my father is also the man who saw
black nail polish and hair as a sign of uselessness
called the goth kids faggots for their look
he is the man who decided videogames were for boys
buying each new system for his son
even if his daughter asked first
he is the man who told his daughter
not to bother coming home
as long as her love wasn’t monogamous and straight
like a good girl’s heart should beat
my father is a good man with judgmental thoughts
and the inability to bend
and I still love him in all his murkiness
the first goddess [poem]
my mother is like Gaia
sturdy support underfoot as I walk this life
she birthed me from herself
parthenogenesis creating a wild weed of a girl
my mother is the first goddess
the path created for others to follow
she is the calm that stills my racing pulse
the deep breath that releases my anger
she taught me how to be more like the earth’s mantle
and less like its molten core
she is the supple strength that showed me how to
be more willow tree than mountain
taught me how to choose which winds to fight
and which to bend my will to
she is the temperance in the face of
my most overwhelmed moments
the reminder that the grass grows
even when I’m not looking
and there is such a thing as too much
too much fertilizer
or water
or sun
my mother is the reason I exist
the creator of this body
but more importantly
she is the one who grew the soul that lives here
the person you’ve learned to love having around
know that every time
you show appreciation for my existence
you give praise to her
stained glass [poem]
your hollow heart is holy
it is cathedral stained glass window
beauty built out of broken bits joined with molten lead
both the pieces and the poison are a part of you
lit up when love shines through
but your church pews are quiet
empty
an abandoned relic six days a week
only remembered when they need salvation
or inspiration or damnation or
something
thank god they always need
something
Larissa Lee 