Couplets: A Love Story

In poetry then, let me say that love
has been, above all things, the engine of
self-knowledge in my life—and even after everything
is still what makes the rest worth suffering.

The proof of life is in the aching.
It was long and torturous, our breaking,
like our beginning, torturous and long,
gored by fights and scored to every song
from Diamond Life

When she turned her face toward mine, I saw my need
vibrating out of me to meet
her own, and the point of their connection
was a minor star, a nuclear reaction
all I cared about was trying to maintain.
Then she’d turn to someone new and kill the flame,
and I would have to wait there in the dark,
pitying myself, my stupid heart,
or chase her down and pick another fight
to get our little spark to reignite.