Love Patterns

A poem of reconstruction

Photo by Everton Vila on Unsplash

In my youth
I knew nothing of
the tenderness
the passion and
the burning love.

I knew only of
the awkward,
the obligatory and
the butterflies in my heart
that seemed to justify
anything and everything
as long as the boy wanted me.

These were the butterflies they spoke of in
the rom-coms,
the young adult novels,
the pop music
that came with flushed cheeks
twirled hair
and nervous giggles.
The…