Member-only story
Love in my experience
is less hearts and flowers
and more jagged edges,
thorns and caltrops
a cutting bloody thing
a trap for the unwary
tripping me up, ripping me open
from bottom to top
yet it wouldn’t hurt me
if I left it alone
didn’t try to grasp
or tread its paths
they told me
when I was younger
pain teaches you lessons
why don’t I learn?
Or have I learned the wrong lesson
to be uninterested in paths
that don’t cut my feet to ribbons
touches that don’t stab my heart
affections that don’t take
price in blood
