Unlearning you, relearning love.

Use this forum to post poetry that you have written. This is for getting comments and constructive feedback. This is for original, creative works. You must post the actual text, no links. Only one poem per topic please.
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ncoard
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Unlearning you, relearning love.

Post by ncoard »

I said I’d let you kiss my neck if you called me pretty
and you told me you wanted to hold your hips like I was yours.
I wanted to be loved and adored, and you wanted to own something,
you wanted something soft to sink your teeth into.
For a long time I thought that was the same thing.

I don’t think either of us knew how to love someone without breaking them.
I was so young I didn’t even know my body should be my own first
and you? You had sharp teeth and a tongue that tasted like
overly sweetened coffee and for a long time after you were gone
I wondered why the smell of it made my stomach churn.

I remember you telling me I’d never know love,
that I’d never known love just because I didn’t know how to love you right.
Will anyone ever love you right, sweetheart?
Will anyone be enough?
I know I wasn’t. I know.
You weren’t scared to tell me that.
You never seemed scared at all. Maybe that’s what scared me most.

You once asked if the poems that spilled from me were about you,
if the anger I had burning was a fire you lit, and I laughed and told you they weren’t,
because you could do no wrong, right?
Because you were perfect and I was this damaged thing. Damaged long before you found me.
Can you really break something that’s already broken?

I swore the poems couldn’t possibly be about you.
But they were. Your name is carved into so many of my bones
and I’m still trying to find ways to scratch it out.
You’re inside of me now, a poison that has made a home
inside of the marrow of my ribs. You’re there still.
I swear I'm trying to pull you out.

There’s a new girl now. And some days I’m scared I don’t know how to love her,
some days I feel like anything I do will never be enough.
I wish I’d met her before a love like yours had already ruined me.
I wish I’d loved her before I had parts of you rooted inside my chest
like wild vines strangling the parts of me you loved to hate.
I think I could love her better.
I think I could let her love me more.
But I’m trying. I’m trying to be the type of person she deserves.
She’s sweet like sugar but there’s no bitter aftertaste.
My tongue doesn’t burn anymore.
Love doesn’t feel so much like a knife fight anymore.
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palilogy
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Post by palilogy »

Good use of line breaks here.
I would consider condensing this poem.
Some things are given and not needed - some are too repetitive.
Example : The third stanza.
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