LOVE Poem: Rush-ing, by Elias Cahoon Bayer

Rush-ing.
The word pounded. Two thumping syllables, like his heartbeat when he saw her. He stood in the cold, mind made up, and called the cab. His friends thought it was too soon. He should just wait and appreciate the present.
Why couldn’t he take things slow?
Why was he so hurried to hold and be held?
Rush-ing.
The driver was so slow, too slow. On the snowy curb, his foot tapped and his mind raced. He’d only known her a short time, but they were in freefall together. The last few months whipped by them, a blur. They were hurtling, excited and unsure, towards the beginning of the end. The only parachute now was for her to say it back. Maybe it was too soon, he thought as snowflakes landed tenderly, clinging to the ground.
Rush-ing.
She wasn’t too far. He could run there before the car would get there. He had to say it. Today. The air outside was frigid, but the words warmed him. His steps melted the lingering ice as he began to run.
Rush-ing.
Ding-dong. Her doorbell rang and he was gasping. The words were a molten syrup in his body, sweet and hot and intense. They surged from his stomach, coating his throat and smoldering behind his eyes.
Rush-ing.
Too soon.
Rush-ing.
Her eyes stole the thought away. Only the words remained.
Rush-ing.
“I love you”.
Rush-ing. Rush-ing.
“I love you too”.

LOVE Poem: Dido and Aeneas, by Lola Hobson

Jealously poisons me each time you smile at that other girl.
Like Dido, I am plagued with my infatuation with you.
It’s driving me insane, I feel as if I am on fire with
my passion for you.
When you’re away from me,
I am like a doe, a doe who is
Lost in the woods.
My heart yearns for you when
you’re gone.
Eventually, you will set off for your own Italy.
Eventually, I’ll die from
the grief of losing you
forever.

LOVE Poem: For You, by Albert Alford

Our lives seemed to be on a path to an intersection not knowing you were the thought that left me speechless, For you my idea of love can never be reminisced without the thought of your aurora,

For you how could I be less than but greater to any other, It seems our time together makes things feel “Right”, For you our hearts touched with our 1st kiss I never denied loving you knowing our bliss would be above everything I ever perceived, For you every thought is everlasting but I think actions speak louder than words when I’m just holding your hand and we can see past anything, Just knowing with you in my arms I can really feel you,

For you is never a topic, For you is everything, For you is reaching out into the stars and seeing what the moon had for breakfast, For you God gave me the benefit of knowing you there was never a doubt, Why would I question him,

For you I can never say that I was the same man yesterday, because when I see your eyes each day, I know I could be a better man

LOVE Poem: Love is ingrained, by Tabitha Maddox

Love is ingrained,
from the moment we’re born.
Everyone just assumes that we love, but how do they know.
I love my friends.
I love my family.
But why assume I am going to find love for another?
Love is not something that is random or selective.
It happens. It’s ever changing.
what you feel today you might not feel tomorrow
and that’s okay because you still love.

LOVE Poem: If We’d Met In Freshman Year, by Jake Hopkins

I often wonder of my time here
If we’d met in freshman year.
It’s just a thought that I explore,
But could it have been something more?

I know not when this thought began
No matter how far back I scan.
I know you started the same as me
Pursuing a very different degree.

The first thing about you I’d note
Was the style of your coat.
Its shade was the most vibrant green
But unlike anything else I’d seen.

You looked like you’d stepped out of time.
Back when books cost just a dime.
And people lived with altered sight
Joking the world was black and white.

But that line’s just a lie, I swear,
Seeing the color of your hair.
A deep set tone, yet only one,
The color of the rising sun.

It’s hard to think you were always there.
The thought’s almost too much to bear.
That you were here and it was true,
I was too blind to notice you.

When first we spoke I remember
For it was only this September.
Near the end of August, and I am sure
That the memory will endure.

I heard you speak of your beliefs.
Of writing and different motifs.
And while I know it sounds absurd,
I was hanging on to every word.

I think I’ll never know the way
That you enchant each word you say.
You give them all a life of their own.
Even if it’s wholly unknown.

It may not have been long since then,
But I’d like to think I’ve found a friend.
One who just learned that I exist
And one who will be dearly missed.

I’ve heard you sing, I’ve heard you laugh.
I’ve seen your face turn red with wrath.
And all the while I wonder how
I’m only just meeting you now.

I often wonder of my time here
If we’d met in freshman year.
I curse whatever twist of fate
Made me meet you far too late.

I don’t know if there’s greater plan,
After all, I’m only a man.
It’s just a thought that I explore,
But I wish it could have been something more

LOVE Poem: can i kiss you?, by Angelica Zacarola

the word
yes
never cut oxygen more brisk
than it did the night it jetted from your throat
racing the street light that flickered above us:
a seedy spotlight illuminating our
personal shakespearean scene

our bodies melted into each other
heartbeats played a childlike game of tag
lips craved a new taste

should i savor it?
or can i rely on the flavor’s consistency
like a classic
sweet summer ice cream
that i knew was my favorite
before my tongue could decide for itself

although the midnight sky draped over us,
the warm glow of our auras blending
illuminated the atmosphere
with colors straight from God’s palette

who knew a simple question
and a one word answer
could change the color of the sky?

LOVE Poem: Temporary Lanterns, by Yleana Mower

Everyone knows my story
I’ve got seventy-foot-long magic hair and I live in a tower
I had been here for eighteen years, waiting to finally leave and be free
I didn’t want to spend any longer being my mother’s flower

A man in a blue vest with a brown satchel came to my tower one day
I hit him with a frying pan, everyone knows that
But he ended up having everything that I wanted, everything that I needed
An escape from my life, an escape from everything in my past

We climbed down the tower and ran away to the kingdom
I told him my dream of seeing the lanterns
He knew everything important that I held near and dear to me
And I knew right away that this man not only met but wrote all of my standards

He took me onto the water to watch the lanterns rise
I watched in awe as I let my hopes fly encased in fire and paper
Eugene had saved me and when I looked at him I knew
That whatever love was, it was him I wanted to give mine to

But when we reached the land once more I felt everything fall
There was a hole in my heart that I couldn’t quite figure out
I’d done exactly what I wanted and he had been the one to help me
So there was no reason for it but I was filled with doubt

Eugene walked away, going to find more wood
I had put all my trust in him, I knew he’d come back
But then the shadows were slowly taking over my mind
And I felt like I was slowly but surely falling under attack

I couldn’t escape the thoughts in my mind
I couldn’t escape the fears that threatened to become real
I took deep breaths but it didn’t quite help
When I looked around and didn’t see him, I went numb and couldn’t even feel

Eugene was gone and wasn’t going to help me
He wasn’t going to come and save me like he’d done just before
He wouldn’t be there as the lanterns faded from the sky
He was only there for his benefit and nothing more

I felt myself fading just like my lantern in the dark
Dizziness took over and I was on the brink of the end
It was Mother who saw me and took me in her arms
It was Mother who was there for me and saved me instead

I followed her home back to the tower that I once felt was a trap
Back to the tower that I once felt was a prison
I promised her that I’d never try to leave again
Because the lanterns that I once dearly loved now were the villain

LOVE Poem: A Loved One, by Branden Navedo

The promise is you’ll take the world that I perceive
Swallow up the senses that my soul has learned,
In my years without you, to ignore, and have my
Soul receive an ecstasy, even in each moment
Alone, where I merely have to think about
You, and I am placed where human souls retreat
Not to forget what it has been to live on earth,
But to know what it is like to be held by someone
More than divine, and become indistinguishable
From this sacred indefinable thing: a loved one.

LOVE Poem: Supernova, by Ryan Westbay

When I swallowed up the sun,
Were you watching as I carelessly gorged
With insatiability in my eyes?

Was my demeanor just benevolent enough
To calm a misguided spark and flare,
Or any other wayward celestial body?

You see, I still ponder
On a plane without a yesterday,
A space without a future,
And a time that isn’t present.
All so I can consume at a familiar pace.

Eating what my palms took for granted
Gave no closure to my thoughts,
And little strength to hear my bones
As they rattled on about implosion.

Moments are immortal in a void;
What is time without a guiding light
To warm the threads of fate
That have me beyond mere captivation?

To glimpse the beauty I yearn for
Means starving the very nature
That built the pedestal I needed,

But for the horizon I chase,
I see no clearer path than to die,
To give in and ignite who I am.

Will I glimpse you at the speed of light,
Or will the colors I bleed blur the time we share?
The moments will remind us
And give meaning to singularity.

LOVE Poem: Out the Window, by Meg Girdich

Across the way
Resides a boy about my age.

His computer desk is parked against the window
Facing outwards towards mine.

I wonder
What goes on
On his dual monitors.

He could be doing homework
Or perhaps playing a video game.

Could he be looking out his window
And wondering what I’m doing?
Thinking about what I’m doing at my desk?
In my head,

I’ve created a scene reminiscent of a Hallmark movie
About how boy and girl meet
And decide to see a cheesy movie together
Before sharing an awkward first kiss.

In reality, I know nothing about this boy.
For all I know, he could be loathsome to be around.
He might not be into girls.
He might not even be a boy at all.

But still the thought lingers
That my soulmate might only be

A window away.