Contagion

You can’t catch feelings
Not like a summer cold
In the midst of a heatwave
It’s always complicated
This idea of instant love
The constant contemplation
Of this inexact science
That often leads to ruin
These blatant platitudes
That both excite and condemn
When we need consistency
Because love must germinate
It must grow from within
Until the feeling is solid
It must take a certain root
Deep down in fertile ground
It’s not at all contagious
Not a stirring in the soul
Blown in by a fickle breeze
Or an omnipresent glance
That needs no introduction
Love is a constant challenge
In search of an opportunity
To thrive.

Not Love

This is not love
Not the ordinary, iconic,
Earth shattering love
From fairy tales
Not the one that fabricates
That reciprocates in turn
That gives its absolute all
To get lopsided returns
Not the final antidote
To acrimonious attrition
Or the salve for what ails
It isn’t spectacular
Or poetically sound
Or even a cup of tea
On a wintry afternoon
It’s not the mountaintop
Not the corresponding sea
Not the habitual hangover
Nor the beckoning plea

But it gives more than receives
It justifies its own means
It’s an answer to the cries
Of a million sleepless nights
In the middle of these dreams
It consoles when it must
But knows when to be silent
It waits for the daylight
To awaken its stark brilliance
In the face of an unkind world
It captures this image
Of a wealth of unseen souls
Waiting to be recognized
It cools the brazen fire
Of this godforsaken lust
Transforming it to pure gold

This is not love
But maybe it should be.

Sunflower Dreams

She loves me not
Even though she did
When everything was new
Just like fresh paint
Inundating every surface
With vibrant restraint
And calculated risk
When nothing is absolute
Except her apathy
In the absence of love
In the wealth of regret
That I never said so
That I didn’t tell her
The words that transform
When nothing else can
These petals dropping
Slowly into dirty water
One by one by one
But she never loves me
Not in a million tries
An acceptance unaccepted
These sunflower dreams
These unfounded hopes
Blowing on the breeze.