I Am Not a Love Poet

 

I want you to bite my lip until I can no longer speak 

And then I want you to look into my eyes 

So that you're the only girl that I can see, 

Because I don't want any other girl to be my obsession. 

 

But before I continue... I'm going to be honest,

I'm not really a love poet.

 

In fact, every time I try to write about love, my hands shake...

Just to show me how fearful love can be.

And sometimes my pen glides across the paper without leaving a trace of ink 

Just to prove to me that love takes a little more strength than I've already gained.

 

See, I heard that love is beautiful so, I write my poems in cursive

And my poems are never really finished because true love is endless.

I always believed that love is kind of like a butterfly,

It's shy and insecure; soaring away before you can pursue it.

 

I'm going to be honest; I'm not a love poet.

 

But if I was to stand up right here tonight ...and speak of love

I swear to God that it would be about you, 

About how I love you the same way I learned how to ride a bike... 

Scared and reckless, with no training wheels, kneepads, or helmet

So that my scars can tell the story of how I fell for you.

 

You see...I'm not really a love poet. 

 

Whenever we stand next to each other, I can't help but wonder 

If one day you'll be my Juliette.

I'll say, oh baby, you are my backbone or you could be my sugar-coated flake of snow

Even though it never snows in the city of Port-au-Prince.

 

Junior C., Bridge Academy, 12th grade