Reflections on Love – September 30, 2019 Weekly
Love ain’t all wine and roses, or candy-floss kisses. No, we often find love entangled with layers of loss, regret, and domination. Whether diving into bitter grounds, wrestling with familial bonds, or seeking warmth amid the freeze, this week’s writers unwind the complex emotions around love. In some cases, a greater power emerges like the next day’s sun. But some loves slide sticky-sweet between the lips while leaving only air behind.
"Hibernation" by William Falo
I hesitated. Two smaller shadows moved behind the mountain lion. Cubs. I put the rifle away and took out my phone and typed out a message to the developer.
No Mountain Lions.
"candy floss" by Tianna G. Hansen
hip bones become butter beneath your tongue // melted, salty
veins are rope lassoed to the rhythm of my // heartbeat //
i mold to the contour of your hands // whipped sugar & cream
"Uncle" by Ross Jeffery
His huge hands splayed out across my shoulders. Pinning me down. He leans in again. Dragging with him the oniony ripe notes of body odour.
‘Say it…’ he utters.
"In a Jacksonville hotel" by Haley Morgan McKinnon
I rinse my face of dried salt and wash the heaviness from my hair
I bury myself in water until I think there is enough to power me
I am baptized and I come out scrubbed clean of sadness and sin
pink and glowing like a sunset, it will last just as long but it is beautiful
"To me you are," by Narmadhaa Sivaraja (N)
Have you ever washed a coffee plunger?
Like the soothing trickle of coffee embalming sanity on dry days, the aftermath of coffee also stays with you. Look at that filter. Really. Look at it, the triangular spaces of mesh running underneath the metal that holds it together.