SOME

B Y :

BRIAN

LOVE

ECK

LUND

POEMS SOME LOVE POEMS written by:

BRIAN ECKLUND

2014 Copyright © 2014 by Brian Ecklund

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Printed in the United States of America

First Printing, 2014 Cover, Photography, & Book Design by: Brian Ecklund dedicated to: everyone i’ve ever loved, everyone i will love, and anyone who’s ever loved me. contents

INTRODUCTION 11

10 short love poems 15

13 unlucky love poems 25

10 hot sex poems 43

06 haikus of love 57

01 satanic love poem 666

06 lost love poems 67

03 funny love poems 77

08 poems of abstracted love 83

02 odes of love 93

04 poems like loving you 99

06 traveling love poems 107

ROMEO & JULIET 117

“EARTH DAY, FOR LOVERS” 119

DRAMATIC ENDING 129 intro duct tion

11 these are some love poems, please enjoy them.

13 10 short love poems

15 1. 3.

this isn’t a poem about sex. wow 20 atom bombs just detonated in my heart, it’s poetry when we do it. 47 million flowers just blossomed in my mind, i’m so young in your arms. 1,457 tons of stress was just lifted, i’m like a young john keats in your bed. damn 256 waves of love just crashed over my body. making poems with you, together we are just 2 until i’m dead. but wow, we are like infinity.

2. 4.

i’m floating on cloud 9. when i was younger i thought i knew what love was. it might be cloud 8, i can’t remember. i learned from the great romantics of the time: we’re high above the clouds in a plane usher, bill clinton, leonardo dicaprio. when we dream next to each other. i could still sing you every song from confessions. when we wake up i’m sorry if i mess up, i’m still only human. we’re on our own private island. please remember me fondly if i go before my time. i kiss you on a cotton beach every morning.

16 10 SHORT LOVE POEMS 17 #3 i could be your babe ruth. it’d be a warm summer night at the stadium, bases loaded. right before the pitch, i’d turn around and make eye contact with you from home plate. i’d point to you and nod & you’d know what it meant. “this one’s for you baby” i’d turn around and knock it out of the park, winning the championship game. it’d be one for the history books & you’d know i did it all for you.

10 SHORT LOVE POEMS 19 6. 8.

in a post-apocalyptic world i would protect you. i used to be afraid of your dad. until the very end, i would be there for you. you told me he was very protective & if died i wouldn’t blame you of his only daughter. if you ate me to stay alive. you told me he had a gun. this has been the darkest love poem i’ve ever written. the first time we met he was relieved once he saw i was a golden retriever. he petted me and smiled. i’m so glad i can still live at your house. 7.

at the peak of a giant mountain i will yell at the top of my lungs “i love you!” i will write a status, “feeling loved!” somewhere in the air, my love for you travels.

20 10 SHORT LOVE POEMS 21 9. i can barely hide the way i feel about you. look, i can barely hide these billions of stars and constellations when we are on top of them. i can barely hide the night sky because it is around us. we barely escape absolution. to you i confess, when i am with you, i want to be a part of everything that is around us.

10. i can, i will, for you, will i, can i?

10 SHORT LOVE POEMS 23 13 unlucky love poems

25 1. 2.

it’s such a rainy day, it’s a real shame. we never talk about if only i dropped my umbrella how your husband died in the civil war. on the worn wooden floor, though i heard he was killed when a cannonball or complained to the young barista for went straight through his chest, and buried his heart. giving me an iced chai instead i’ve read on various historical websites that the over of the steaming hot cappuccino i ordered, 620,000 americans died fighting each other i would have heard the bell on the door jingle on american soil, including your husband. & you would have walked into my life. i read the words in your letters to your sister instead the cool rain & cold drink mix and they were beautiful. & chills kiss the ends of every limb. i couldn’t help but feel your sorrow. it’s a shame today i’ll never know i wish you were alive with me now, the heat of that warm drink, you could have connected with so many other women or maybe you next to me. going through the same things on internet forums and chatrooms. i want to know how your story ended, i couldn’t find any information from a verifiable source. i like to think you found love again with someone like me.

26 13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 27 3. remember that hot afternoon last august when we were making out under the old birch near your house & a bird shit on our locked lips? we had a good laugh, unable to comprehend what had just happened to our hot, passionate moment. we both agreed it was good luck, though. we still had shit on our lips. i still laugh about it.

4. a lot of trees died because of our love. it’s kind of depressing to think about. i wrote you so many love letters that didn’t even get recycled. they’re still in those 3 black boxes under your bed.

13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 29 5. 6.

i was really surprised, when i saw you at the club when i was about 14 i should have made it rain. i found out that the monster under my bed now it’s 4am & rain falls on my sweaty head. was actually just a very beautiful woman. i could have shown you my moves, beautiful women are just as scary as monsters. i could have impressed you. it took me a few years to realize this. next time i see you at the club one night instead of scratching at my bed post, i’m going to meet you on the dance floor. she whispered to me anxiously, “i’m lonely” we could enjoy our 20’s, drink a lot of craft beer. she got in bed with me and bit my neck we could get married, settle down in the suburbs. but i wasn’t scared, i’d come home every night like monsters under your bed, from my accounting job in the city beautiful women usually aren’t actually there. until my 54th birthday, when we would retire to a paradise nightclub somewhere tropical. i’ll still make it rain for you. i will still kiss you in the rain when i’m 80. however, this really depends on if i see you at the club again. :-/

30 13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 31 7. 8.

you have a natural beauty i am 22 years old. like every celebrity pre plastic surgery. when we’re together, i’d miss kissing your lips, under the moon i feel like i’m 45 years older pre botox. falling in love again. please stay the same as you were when i met you. i have so much energy again, young & vibrant, full of life. i’m jumping out of the lazy boy again. even as you become old with wrinkles and blemishes, and coincidentally, my back pain is gone! (yes) tired & frail, we’ll make all the young people uncomfortable i’d still see you the same way. when we slowly walk around town, now stuck with a forced smile, holding hands and smiling. melts in the sun. i’ll periodically stop to catch my breath & to kiss you on your wrinkled cheek. people will be unsure of how to approach our young, geriatric love. young couples will see us and laugh, turning to each other to say, “will you take care of me like that one day?” i reply with a smile. we laugh together. we kiss like old people.

32 13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 33 9. just before the pepper spray hit my face, i saw you. standing there with your arms raised, you had a great sign, it read: “we WANT peace! we WANT it now!” wow i WANT you. such passion. i enjoy being with someone who is passionate about a cause. your image was burned into my mind, which made it easier to take the beatings from the police. when they finally stopped my hands were still over my face, tears pouring out of my stinging eyes. i hope that when i can open them again you will still be there. i’d like to take you out to my favorite coffee shop to discuss the various injustices against our personal freedoms.

13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 35 10. 11.

i may just be paranoid, i love your voice. but it’s starting to seem like you’re following me around… i don’t know what you look like but your voice is beautiful. saw you at my local whole foods, i turned around in the i love the stories you tell. aisle full of spices and assorted nuts we spent so much time together these past few weeks, and saw you, but you quickly averted your eyes. i cherish these moments. i was at the gym getting swoll, life is truly odd. when i spotted you staring at me from the elliptical. i told you all about my strange bowling accident. i saw you at my favorite local coffee shop, i smashed my entire pelvis. so painful. you were behind me in line. you made my month in the hospital not so bad. as i was mixing the sugar into my black coffee, in fact, i think it was fate the barista asked you what you’d like that our beds would be right next to each other. and you replied, “i’ll have what HE’S having” through the curtain we would tell each other all sorts of stories. looking at me and letting out an awkward giggle. you told me all about your freak gardening accident. after you took a sip i could tell by the look on your face life is truly odd. that you hated black coffee. how silly. even in a full-body cast you are beautiful. you’re really cute but i’m kind of creeped out. you have a beautiful voice. i shouldn’t be… i should be used to it. i can’t wait to see you in a few weeks. it’s hard being a brad pitt look alike. it’ll be exciting to finally see your face. maybe this could work out. life is truly odd. i just don’t know how long you’d stick around… eventually you’d realize i am not brad pitt.

36 13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 37 12. when i was 16 i got my driving permit & accidentally drove my heart into a girl who didn’t know how to drive either. we were having a great time riding all over town until we reached a large hill. we were still having a great time, but as our speed steadily climbed upwards, she quickly became afraid and grabbed my leg. she said, “i’m sorry” as she flipped the switch to the ejector seat and pressed the button, thrusting herself into the sky, parachute unfurling, blocking the light from the moon. i held my breath as i crashed into a large oak tree at the bottom of the hill. i awoke, 4 months later, to the light of spring coming through my window. ‘i hope this doesn’t mean i won’t be able to get my license’ maybe next year.

13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 39 13. you are not lucky if you are in love. you’re lucky if you are living. even luckier if you are alive with someone in love.

13 UNLUCKY LOVE POEMS 41 10

hot

sex

poems

43 1. 2.

oh look at our bodies abstraction. my favorite sex position is the log ride at the amusement park. tonight we became diamonds from the night dark as coal i always walk away thinking, “wow what a way to spend an the ways we pressed each other against the fire. afternoon” we eat each others cotton candy and funnel cake and we became two heavy clouds, then buried ourselves deep hold hands while we go on the ride a few more times, into the ground, the trees grew from the bed that we slept in. “wow what a fun way to spend a saturday afternoon!” some nights we are muddy rivers who rush to the blue ocean. i’m so glad you like going to the amusement park with me. some nights you are a warm rainstorm when you fall onto me. my favorite sex move is called the “goes on walks and has some mornings our blue drips into orange sunsets we make, long talks about nature & the universe with me” some mornings we wake up with a pink sunrise between us, sometimes we are too tired so we stick to the usual, you grab my hips the way the moon pulls an ocean “lays in bed and watches reality tv together” i crash onto your ocean as a wave diving into your shoreline, sprawled out with my chest on your sand, it feels good when we watch the batchelorette together. with my hands on your dunes, you still surprise me with new moves every day. with my lips on your sky. my second favorite sex position is the teacup ride.

44 10 HOT SEX POEMS 45 3.

we f word in the back seat of a sedan in portland we f word in a moon bounce on main street

we f word on top of a giant bronze sculpture in paris we f word on a wooden floor in a cafe in italy

we f word in a butterfly garden near your house we f word in an office overlooking downtown chicago

we f word in a broom closet at company headquarters we f word on a floral blanket in a field in new zealand

we f word in a veranda overlooking a spanish coastline we f word on a pastic covered couch in wisconsin

we f word on a conveyor belt at a shoe factory we f word in some private garden in the hamptons

we f word in egypt in a dark, hot cave we f word in a model kitchen in an ikea store

we f word on home plate at yankees stadium we f word in a virtual world on our computers

we f word on a tandem bicycle in atlantic city we f word in the middle of a parade in new york

we f word in a raft falling down a waterfall in the amazon we f word on soft sand on a beach in south africa

we f word in line at the grocery store in denver, colorado we f word on stage at vans warped tour in ohio

we f word on top of a blimp floating over the atlantic ocean we f word on an organic vegetable farm in denmark

we f word on a wet concrete sidewalk outside of the library

we f word on a high speed train in tokyo we fornicate like animals.

46 10 HOT SEX POEMS 47 4. 5.

the ceiling collapsed our sex is like sunday nfl countdown when we make passes toeach on our naked, sweaty, bodies last night. other all night long we run all the highlights consecutively we go later we would learn from our insurance agent, jerry, through all the top plays like 9 fumbles when you hurl yourself on that it was in fact not due to water damage from top of me like 8 forty yard sprints when we repeat plays over and last weeks big nor’easter. over and over again on top of our stadium grass green bedspread jerry informs us it was caused by our passionate love making. under bright flood light yankee candles that smell like hotdogs, he says we will receive no money to repair the damages. beer, and testosterone but neither of us call for timeouts and we continue to shake the entire house when we make love. neither of us like to run the clock we just sprint until the 4th jerry urges us to exercise more caution in bed. quarter timer reaches zero and we’re both declared winners and on jerry’s desk there is a picture of his wife, marlene. after the game we shower together & blue gatorade pours over us. jerry looks like the type of man who makes love with caution. unfortunately, i am not. this will be our 16th home repair since last august.

48 10 HOT SEX POEMS 49 6. i challenge you to find sex hotter than mine. me and my lover make love 3 times a day on the surface of the sun. me and my lover make a pillow fort and turn it into an oven of love every night. our love is hot and wild like a camp fire. our love is a raging firestorm in a hotel hot tub. i doubt you will find lovers that make it as hot as us. we have to warn people within a 25 mile radius on public access television when we are going to make love. on our birthdays and anniversaries the temperature rises by at least 30 degrees in states that are close to our smoldering bed. our love is so damn hot be careful. steam rises from the ground around our house after we’re done making hot love in bed. the walls are charred and burnt after we make love in the morning. if you can’t stand the heat, then stay away from hot lovers who make it hot like us.

10 HOT SEX POEMS 51 7. 9.

we remain in bed as plaster cast molds now. some claim that certain styles of dance are a conversation. our sacred ground sectioned off by some say that there are styles that are more like sex. those who try to uncover our mysteries some participate in conversation during sex. & read our stories in the folds i try not to do this. of our wrinkled bed sheets. like, “how are you doing?” we twirl & keep thrusting. like, “that’s great! i’m glad you’re doing well!” i spin you around & i keep kissing you. like, “i’m glad we got to see each other : - )” 8. we move our hips together in perfect harmony. i’ve mastered the art of conversation on the dance floor, i want to hear your fantasies. but not in bed. like money growing on trees, maybe with practice i will one day like patient-doctor confidentiality, be able to salsa with you while we talk about the weather. some decadent desserts or melted wax on bare skin, or touch like some wax or me melting onto you.

52 10 HOT SEX POEMS 53 10. we have an ancient tradition in bed. we make love to each other like american buffalo. we use every part of each other and nothing is wasted. when we are done, we are born again as lovers.

10 HOT SEX POEMS 55 6 haikus o f love

57 1. the world speaks to us, spins like us, we float as lovers do.

2. how’d you get so fly? oh, i remember, those beautiful angel wings.

3. intricate, ant tunnels to heart, my blood marches like ants for you.

6 HAIKUS OF LOVE 59 4. i read in a cosmo,

24 hot new tips, to make your lover yolo.

5. i’ve flicked switches of love, saved cash, for candle light dinners together.

6. collarbone, hand draped, carved deep within oceans, diving into nape of neck.

6 HAIKUS OF LOVE 61 666 satanic love poem

666 be a chaperone with me at this chuck-e-cheese forever. kiss me in this dentist chair forever. kiss me forever at this eternal business meeting. for eternity i want to make love to you make love to me for an eternity at a local chinese restaurant on the wet bathroom floor. on the floor of the dmv. cry with me in this empty parking lot in the pouring rain at a grocery store at sunset. speak to me in tongues, we’ll shop at this whole foods forever. kiss me until the end of time in some gridlock traffic. i want to be locked in this closet with you forever. for eternity we will make love in a dirty gas station bathroom be an inmate with me in this 6x6 cell while cars pile up and burn on the highway next to us. while we both live out our life sentences together. hug me while our boat slowly sinks into the pacific. be stuck in this parent teacher conference with me forever. kiss me passionately while we watch kiss me as we slowly freeze on the peak of mount everest. public access television until the day we die together. be old with me when we start to forget where we put our things. make love to me for an eternity for eternity i want to be in a car with you that has no direction. in the walmart parking lot while everyone watches. i want to be in a bus with you when the brakes cut out.

let’s cry together while we wait in a neverending line kiss me slowly as our cabin catches on fire at the nearest apple store in 90 degree weather. and the flames surround us. kiss me in a stuffed garbage truck on a hot day. i want to make love to you somewhere dark & unknown. make love to me as we tread water in the middle of the atlantic ocean during a storm. oh lover, i want to be here with you forever. kiss me as our hot air balloon burns and plummets towards some hills in southern california. be a janitor with me at this high school forever.

64 666 SATANIC LOVE POEM 65 6 lost love poems

67 1. i might as well write a eulogy because tonight i find myself in your arms hoping i’d rest there forever.

& if i wake up without you - let it be written, not for me, but for the past where i could hold you.

& if i open my eyes, and see yours staring back at me, let it be written, about us and the world we saw together.

6 LOST LOVE POEMS 69 2. 3.

people say, “hold onto love” be with me tonight. because by a pier the tide rolls in. in this prime time slot. because it’s time that is cast upon us. with sets we forget aren’t actually home. but when i tried to hold onto the sunset i hold you in a bed where we discuss our days i could not bear to see it drown and exchange witty, sometimes suggestive banter. as it met the edge of the ocean. i hug you in the doorway when you are sad. & when i wrapped my hands you gently rest your arms over my shoulders around the sunrise, and you bury your head into my collarbone. it carried me up into the sky, the scene ends & the cameras zoom out and pan. so high that i could barely see the music plays as the credits roll the ground from which i came. and sometimes i still hold you even after they stop filming. instead, i’ll hold onto faith i am happy that it is my job to be in love with you. like it is love. viewers follow this familiar story arc with us and the season finale will reach an all time high in viewership. in time i hope we can thousands of people will see my grand gesture. lay together i prove my love to you in a time of great doubt. below a sky that is full, i will kiss you in the kitchen against the marble island until it is quiet on the set. with faith that this is only natural.

70 6 LOST LOVE POEMS 71 4. 5.

two parts the drink on your lips sometimes i write words for you so am i but you drink me down quickly & they become trapped on a page. & now you’re home drunk on top of me. i’d much rather tell you by a lake, we spend less time remembering somewhere beautiful like you are. and more time bunched up like leaves i’d much rather tell you and write it at a storm drain waiting for the next big storm. somewhere in the air and leave it there one part hope and i drink it too to disperse into everything around us. mixed with another drink called fear. i’d much rather you heard it from my mouth i guess you could say we’re drunk than see it on a page. but i’m a little more convinced we’re i’d much rather you look into my eyes just waiting for something more. than have you read between some short lines. truthfully, they are just words on a page & honestly i am just a boy who wants to love you by a lake somewhere beautiful. sometimes i write words but i’d rather just tell you.

72 6 LOST LOVE POEMS 73 6. at the bottom of a small lake i kiss you with muted sounds & muted colors when fog seeps into our hugging bodies and turns the red in our cheeks to a lighter shade. we are screaming at the top of our lungs in the pouring rain on the side of a mountain overlooking a busy highway in the american midwest. there is static between us i can feel it. there are sounds inside of us i can hear them. sometimes i want to scream because that is how you make me feel. not out of anger, but because i never knew i could be so loud. i never thought we could fill this tiny lake with the silent words that are spoken when you are staring into the fog of my eyes.

6 LOST LOVE POEMS 75 3 funny love poems

77 1. 2.

i consider myself a pro at being falling in love when you’re not expecting to fall in love the dwayne ‘the rock’ johnson of your weekends. is one of the best comedy jokes i’ve heard in a long time. for 3 years i studied at a small university in new mexico like when you say something serious just to become a scattergories master to impress your dad and people laugh & think it’s really, really funny. when i go to visit your childhood home in tennessee. like when you trip in a really funny way i’m sorry, please forgive me if i come off a little agitated. and fall on the pavement on a crowded city street i have been up for the past 72 hours and people laugh even though your ankle might be broken. preparing for the final exam to become & even when the delivery is off it still somehow works out. the ryan seacrest of your heart. except sometimes the punch line is a broken heart i am smiling now more than ever. & then it’s not that funny anymore. it is because you are the early britney spears of my ears, but even when that happens you still remember you are the penelope cruz of my eyes, funny times you had together. & the angelina jolie of my lips. when i fall in love i’m often laughing the whole time. i want to be the celebrity in your dreams equally entertained as i am terrified. that you wished you had a happy life with. equally falling on my face as i am i want it to be real. it could be real. actually falling for you. we could live in a mansion with two pools, i try not to take it all too seriously. but only if i found a way to become i imagine being a stand-up comedian the donald trump of my bank account. and that scares the shit out of me. i would adjust my comb over in front of a gilded mirror but if i had the chance, and watch you undress in the background. i wouldn’t hesitate to kiss you in front of a crowd. it could be real.

78 3 FUNNY LOVE POEMS 79 3. you are a medical grade relaxation beverage. you’ve got me at a level of chill i never thought possible. you walk into the house party like your swag is professional. you talk into my ear like you’re the next big religion. patron on ice & ciroc from the bottle when you’re loving me we’re balling with style. you make me want to read rap songs like poetry. and late at night you make me want to go drake on the phone with you. there aren’t nearly enough pop culture references to truly describe the way i feel about us. so please hop into my prius & pretend it’s a maserati, i’ll give you a kiss & you can pretend it’s a diamond ring, i’ll promise you this as i’m wrapped in versace, i can’t lie your love has me feeling some type of way.

3 FUNNY LOVE POEMS 81 8 poems of abstracted love

83 1. my heart fell out of my pocket today. today i spent $34 at the grocery store on food with preservatives. i keep well on a shelf but i am not patient. pick me up & use me. pick me up & take me home. i keep spare change in my pockets but only for emergencies. for bus fare to your loft when your water heater stops working and we stand together trembling in your shower. i didn’t even realize i dropped my heart in aisle 3 next to all of the frozen food but it didn’t really matter. now we lay on top of the stove in the middle of a hot afternoon in the middle of july.

8 POEMS OF ABSTRACTED LOVE 85 2. 4.

a man travels the world to find the clearest water your femur wrapped around my collar bone. or a love that is easy to see through. now i’m pressed into the corner of your room. or to see the wonders of the world, now you’re two shades of sky like a woman as a beautiful mountain before him. before & after he holds his breath as he climbs, but breathes at the peak. a storm. a woman laying as a forest before him, like a day where only some light reaches the forest floor. a man travels. 5.

when i walk down the aisle i want to look 3. like a fresh baguette on a parisian street. i am nervous but we kiss like mimes i have seen true love on an altar on a bridge over the seine. on television & doves carrying soft, soft emotion we spend a life together in a painting in the louvre. from lover to lover like electronic waves in soft strokes we embrace the bourgeois. on your computers screen. mademoiselle, i’ll slip a ring on your finger between the commercial break for the first time in a park while we eat a baguette. i release the doves from the nest in your lap i want to be confident & romantic and we fall into a deep netflix fever dream. and love you all the way down the champs-élysées.

86 8 POEMS OF ABSTRACTED LOVE 87 6. 7.

in the name of progress i am a sunset that’s in love with the ocean. i will light this ceremonial sparkler you know, we’re just two things that go well together without trying. and celebrate our loves independence. this morning i saw two clouds move together across the sky i will kiss you at the backyard bbq after too many beers. before disappearing over houses and shopping malls. this is sloppy but so is the world we live in. i hope one day we are like that. kiss me at the cooler after too many glasses of chardonnay. honestly i hope tonight i go down on your ocean as the sun goes down we rock back and fourth and we drift through the sheets of your bed on the porch on a swing that is only kind of broken. like two clouds over this suburban town. you laugh at the way i mix up my words when we are out on the open sea don’t ask me which way to go and i laugh at the way your eyes dash across my face. because i will not know. you kiss me again under some fireworks when i look around all i will see is you. and i know it might be alright. we fall asleep and i dream of winning a war.

88 8 POEMS OF ABSTRACTED LOVE 89 8. i lay with droopy eyes like a basset hound slumped over your chest on a sunday afternoon in downtown philadelphia. we watch the dust swirl around in the light that pours through cracks in the blinds and i run my fingers through your hair in same the way you carry your words to my ears and place them down softly in hopes that they won’t disturb me. i am not sad but there is something about these moments that remind me of why sprawled across your bed, we are beautiful. & what we share, it is beautiful too. & i am sharing with you what the wind pushing through your curtains told me. & i share with you what i feel when i am between you. i lay with you sometimes and everything seems so simple it’s hard for me not to want to share my heart with you. i am sharing with you this confession because i want you to know i am willing to lay here with you for however long it takes.

8 POEMS OF ABSTRACTED LOVE 91 2 odes o f love

93 ode to that summer day when the rain kissed us it was all sudden, like when the rain fell, or when we did. i remember that day, vividly i remember fingers brushing the wet leaves as we walked through the woods on a fresh path & the sound of our footsteps on wet leaves as we broke through the rain without words. we arrived at a clearing and the clouds came down so hard that we could barely see in front of us. and in the haze of the angled rain i kissed you against tree and you kissed me back like rain and you told me you were falling and i told you i wanted you in the falling rain and you told me you felt me like the rain falling on us. we escaped the storm by letting it take us. we swallowed the clouds with quick breaths & you spoke to me with words like rain into my ears & we became rain that day & part of us was left on that patch of earth. i hope we are how the rain kisses us & suddenly i become rain with you.

2 ODES OF LOVE 95 ode to butterfly kisses (this is not a serious poem) i am not afraid to be goofy as hell in the waiting room of an expensive hotel in new england laughing and talking in a terrible british accent to you and the various employees. i’m not afraid of being too silly & playful with my food at an expensive 5 star restaurant that overlooks the harbor. i’ll probably embarrass you at the shopping mall when i talk too loud & make jokes about how weird capitalism is. but you say, “i love you” and i say it back, and it’s a wonderful transaction. we both have bought into this idea, and i suspect we’re still both making profits. how silly it is when we exchange butterfly kisses at the pier during sunset. i like how we don’t take things too seriously.

2 ODES OF LOVE 97 4 poems like loving you

99 1. every morning you walk out of your room after we enjoy some new age mysticism and you sit by the window facing your backyard of trees & you talk to your prized rock collection. like your amethyst will tell you why, like your jade will tell you how, like your amber will tell you when. eventually we become one with some burgers & fries at 3am. we pray to each other because that is what we believe. i believe one day, very suddenly, love will become something else entirely. something like a huge ball of fire in the sky. we feed each other things that can kill us, but there is romance in danger. i’ll believe this is good, we will believe this is good too. keep talking to me like i am a confession that stays secure, and very suddenly we change, and very suddenly we believe, but you can only know when we become one again.

4 POEMS LIKE LOVING YOU 101 2. 3.

my friends washer is filled with dog hair. take comfort in the persistence of light on your windowsill. when he washes his clothes they come out clean i am on the verge of racing my heart to but they’re still covered in dog hair. a finish line that runs along the curves of your torso. that’s how i want you but without the dog hair. my heart is racing as i am holding on to you. my friends fingers are always covered in bike grease. i am holding you in late june even when he washes his hands & i hope this is the longest day of my life. his fingers are still covered in bike grease. we watch the line the sunset casts upon on your bedroom wall that’s how i want us to be when we’re kissing the the rain. slowly rise until it meets the ceiling my friends dog is covered in dog hair. and fades and our eyes close together. it’s covered in dog hair because it’s a dog. i swear there are words i no longer have the ability to say, that’s how i want it to feel when we’re pressed together. without at least thinking about watching your white curtains as they slowly moved along with the blue summer breeze as it came through your bedroom window. i smell burning lavender, i smell burning sage. there are parts of us i hope never end. i take comfort in knowing there are things we have never said, and that there are things we probably will never say. but that is okay, there is comfort in the light that comes through.

102 4 POEMS LIKE LOVING YOU 103 #sonnetnumber18 i spell check all my texts to you tirelessly without pay, to be a modern shakespeare and to write you sonnets in an accessible way because i know old english bores you. my phone autocorrects your name to bae because it knows you’re that kind of hot summer weather i like. the kind that makes flowers grow, the kind that slows everyone down. i take comfort in knowing you’re only a text message away & i find peace knowing i could text you in only emojis & you would understand. shall i compare thee? i would not dream of it. thou art the one who moves me. thou art the heart emoji on my sleeve. so long live your cell phones battery, so i can send my love to thee.

4 POEMS LIKE LOVING YOU 105 6 traveling love poems

107 1. i promise you will find me on the next high speed train that will take me to your quaint suburban town. by tomorrow morning i want to be drinking café au lait in your favorite local coffee establishment. i will travel 16 hours to bring you some of the countryside in the soles of my boots to leave on your welcome mat. my darling i want to bring our worlds together in a big way. there are many streets here named after trees & i want to drive down all of them with you. there are many trees here i want to kiss you under. i will do my best to adopt the leisurely lifestyle you enjoy here. god knows i’ve been working hard every single day to build a house for you & me somewhere beautiful in the countryside. in 16 hours we could be surrounded by the birches and pines. in 16 hours i could be kissing you under some maples & spruce. i had this dream while i slept next to you on the porch of your white antique house that i woke up and my glass of sweet tea had fallen out of my hands and spilled onto the floor finding every crack in the wood. and in that same way i dream of us spilling into the sky and in that way i want you under the birch & pines and in that way i’ll kiss you under the maples & spruce. it would only take us 16 hours to get away.

6 TRAVELING LOVE POEMS 109 2. 3.

i am comfortable in the back of the car with you your head rests on my bicep while we lay on the with my hand on your hand and your hand hood of my dodge charger in late august. over my knuckles even when it’s under my palm. the year is 1979. i could never hold a fist at my side my red polyester shirt makes static when we kiss. if you were there to wrap your arms around the entirety of me. you confess to me you don’t like rock & roll even when you are entirely wrapped around the seed of me and that you prefer the sound of your own thoughts. we’re outside of my car in a field and i’m hugging you. i hold my budweiser the same way i hope we grow and let the wind carry what we promise each other you hold little parts of me & in these moments like milkweed seeds over the rest of our lives. i want to get drunk on our conversations. i couldn’t forget you at my side like milkweed seeds stuck now i can’t drive so let’s just sleep here to my shirt when we lay by my car in a field. and watch the sky spin from the hood of my car. i am comfortable now with the way we will carry on. in the morning i will drop you off at the edge of your street i am comfortable now with you holding me. and you can tell your dad you were out late i guess it’s ok that we are here now. with friends at a drive-in movie. i no longer find the need to drive. you can tell him you saw a coming of age story about a girl who fell in love with a boy from the other side of town with long & flowing blonde hair and soft, blue eyes. i prefer the sound of my thoughts when you are in them.

110 6 TRAVELING LOVE POEMS 111 4. we are two teens pressed against bed sheets, i am under you two days before the new year. you say this feels natural, we melt into each other like snow in spring. i’m never absent, just a bulb buried in the dirt. we are in summer & i am in the heat of you & the hum of the fan breaks our thoughts & i drip down your skin when we are in bed exhaling the sweat of our thoughts. two days before july 4th i am on top of you & i am a firework on the skin of you. i bloom like a firework from the bulb of you. i explode like a firework when i am next to the heart of you. it is july 4th and we watch ourselves climb into the sky which is an unmade bed for us.

6 TRAVELING LOVE POEMS 113 5. 6.

tell me are you feeling will i be three clicks, the sun like three taps of the or the moon bottom of my empty glass tonight, this morning on the bar counter, is the first time i will wake up away. with the sun in my arms. two clicks from a place i once went i want to be somewhere between where the ruby slippers were bare the sun and moon with you. feet on a mattress on the floor tell me is this what are you feeling? and dorothy was still snoring. the moon on the nape of your neck, i am lost, the sun around your hips, i am lost, or me as both around you? if i only had a way let’s keep moving around each other. to love like a fever dream. because i want to be somewhere the last click from a lighter between the sun and moon & she inhaled all the smoke. on earth with you. i am lost, eventually we will be but three times i found between the moon & sun religion in the stories being like two suns under a moon of the things we missed staring at the sky with you. and the people we used to be.

114 6 TRAVELING LOVE POEMS 115 romeo & juliet i often think about how some classic love stories would have changed if they were set in 2014. the tragic story of romeo and juliet would have been told through the internet in the form of text flirtation in a facebook chat or some romantic exchanges of selfies through snapchat. as juliet held her thumb down on the screen of her pink iphone 5c, she would smile at the sight of her precious romeo, flexing his six-pack abs in the mirror of what looked like an abercrombie & fitch dressing room. she would kiss her phones gorilla glass with shiny glossed lips. i have finally found ‘the one’...

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“my bounty is as boundless as tha sea, my <3 as deep; the more i give 2 thee, the more i have, 4 both are infinite.” juliet’s heart flutters, he is a true romantic. who knows, things might have ended differently.

117 earth day, for lovers

119 earth day, for lovers

we live on a big rock. it’s called earth. it’s made up of things we’re made up of. we are a part of it. we know it intimately & when we are making love to it we are collectively running our hands over it’s mountains and breathing fast in it’s valleys. when we die we are simply inside of it. when we die we die but the earth keeps on living. i want to love you the way we collectively love the earth. i want to be in [ spring ] with you. it is [ love ] so i want to plant something with you that will grow. i want to sweat, we are making [ summer ] in bed. it is [ love ] and my air conditioning is broken. i want to be warm in [ love ] with you. i am in [ fall ] with you. i want to make [ winter ] with you. it is [ love ] when we are making out in the snow.

121 there is a grassy knoll about 40 miles away from my house i celebrate you when i make earth day with you. that overlooks a beautiful meadow. let’s go home and april 22nd in my twin bed. we we could go there & we could make love on top of it. let’s leave the party early to go make april 22nd on a couch. let’s go make earth day in a dressing room there’s a beach about an hours drive away from where we are right at our local urban outfitters. now that we could make love on until a cop shows up. let’s make april 22nd standing up in a park on earth day.

there’s an old oak tree a short walk from here that we could climb. people do a lot of different things to show their love for the earth on we could make love in it’s branches while it holds us. earth day. some people hold hands and plant trees & flowers. some people get a group together and pick up trash at their local park. there’s a mountain about a two hour drive from your house that we some people simply get together and relax outside with friends and could hike up and make love at it’s peak. we’d be so tired from the strangers. i like to celebrate earth day by making love. hike & making love that we’d take a two hour nap at the very top of the mountain. and when we wake up we’d realize we were on the i like to celebrate earth day by going outside and holding hands with top of a mountain so we’d make love at least two more times before you. i celebrate earth day by kissing you and then kissing you again beginning the five mile hike back down to my car. and then kissing you a third time because kissing you twice wasn’t enough. i celebrate by telling you i love you and meaning it. we celebrate the earth in many ways but my favorite way is by i celebrate you. it’s earth day so i want to make our love grow. making love with you. there are so many places we could make love & celebrate the earth together. every day that we are alive is earth day. i hope to spend many earth days with you. we love the earth so much we gave it it’s own day. it’s april 22nd. we call it earth day. my favorite way to celebrate earth day is by i am in love with you. making love. when we celebrate earth day we are celebrating it is spring so let’s plant something the love we are in. like it is earth day.

122 EARTH DAY, FOR LOVERS 123 i want to be in rain, we are making love in the rain. sometimes we make love in the eye of a hurricane it is summer and the rain is all over us. sometimes we make love on top of a tsunami sometimes we make love during an earthquake i want to be warm in fall with you sometimes we make love on a beautiful, sunny day i am making love to you and leaves sometimes we make love when it is snowing are crunching beneath us. sometimes we make love on a windy day sometimes making love is beautiful and scary. i want to make love in the snow with you. it is winter and i love you my favorite way to make love is on top of some earth on earth day. we are so much like the earth that when we are together it’s like i am in space with you. i’ve seen so many beautiful pictures of places that would be ideal for making love. let’s be like the earth & make love in space one day. i want to make love in yellowstone national park we live on a big rock called earth. it’s made up of things we’re made up i want to make love at the bottom of niagara falls of. we are a part of it. we are intimate with it. when we make love to it i want to make love in the grand canyon we are running through it’s forests and closing our eyes in its oceans. i want to make love in the middle of the gobi desert when we die we are inside of it. i want to make love in the indian ocean when we die we die but the earth still lives. i want to make love anywhere in the atlantic ocean i want to make love in a cave in the middle east i will love you the way i love the earth. i want to make love in the core of the earth

people often ask: “what is your favorite way to make love?” & if it’s possible, there are so many different ways to make love. one day i will make love in the center of the sun.

124 EARTH DAY, FOR LOVERS 125 there is no place in the world that we couldn’t make love if we wanted to badly enough. and i want you like it’s earth day so come over so we can love the earth together. i want to make april 22nd with you deep in a forest where we no longer have cell service i want to make april 22nd with you on a river in a wooden boat that doesn’t have wifi i want to make april 22nd with you at the edge of a cliff that google maps can’t locate when i make love with you i want it to be like a rock spinning in space. we live on a big rock and i want to be with you the way we are with the earth. i want to celebrate you the way we celebrate april 22nd. i want to make earth day with you and hold hands with you after we make earth day and kiss you every earth day because every day is earth day because every day we are alive together on this beautiful earth.

EARTH DAY, FOR LOVERS 127 dra matic end ing

129 it will always be there.

130 131 thank you for read ing! fin.