By now, love feels like the rusted over
handlebars of a bicycle.
A familiar place of unpretty age
and the resistance to touch.
It is the years gone by
and the times you were told to leave
your heart at the door,
(along with your coat, sensibility and handbag)
and to enter this house
without wondering why the counters are so polished.
By now, love is so forgettable
it is the smooth scent of September.
It is a funny accent on an untrained tongue.
It is a match doused in sink water
that is put to a candle and told to make fire.
You have felt love in so many ways
with so many ruthless endlings
that you have started to peel apart your own brain.
You have started to ask yourself
why rosebuds must wait for rain
in order to grow into something with thorns.
And when the thought of love creeps
its way back into your room at night,
you ponder the way you are good at molding
your clay body into something for others
to use and stick on a shelf.
And the way you are good at giving
your heart away in full sentences
at 100 miles per hour in a school zone;
and by now, you are wondering if maybe your ooey-gooey,
glue and glitter, craft paper love is unable to be received and reciprocated.
But know this:
Love will arrive when love is meant to.
And when it does, it will come crashing into you
like a tidal wave from somewhere you’ve never been.
It will rain into your skin with the texture of salt water taffy–
waxy and heavy and delicious.
And it will bring you Grand Canyon air,
and when it does, you will fear how far the fall is
from the sedimentary rocks. You will fear the drop
and the way your heart once climbed out of your own chest
and forfeited itself onto your beaten up shoes.
But this time, when love plants a kiss upon your forehead,
know it is the truth.
Mina Foutch is a writer and college student from Hagerstown, Maryland, that enjoys expressing her mind in stories, poems and songs by diving into the grime of reality. She has also been previously published in magazines such as HeARTbreaker Mag and Suburban Rose Mag and is in the process of crafting a poetry chapbook. Known for her raw emotions and nitty gritty details, she flourishes in the art, and hopes you are left with an aftertaste of her work.