When I was 9, if someone had asked, “Do you feel loved?”
I would have answered, “Yes.”
Tip-toe love.
Impatient love.
Come back later love.
This is all I’ve got love.
At 22, if someone had asked, “Do you feel loved?”
I would have answered, “Yes.”
Angry love.
Fearful love.
Sudden, mournful love.
It’s easier if you don’t love.
At 35, if someone had asked, “Do you feel loved?”
I would have answered, “Yes.”
Distant love.
Protected love.
I’ve only got a second love.
How could you do that love.
At 47, if someone asks, “Do you feel loved?”
I will answer, “Yes.”
Patient, trembling love.
Imperfect, motherly love.
Homemade candied orange peel love.
Keep it in a jar forever love.
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Caitlin Kelly
Dorien Grey
heidibeth
2SB
Keka
Mrs. Michaels
Salon.com
Comments
The kind of love that makes me want to go hug my kids right now. Thank you.
Beautiful poem and a life story in so few lines.
Sweet as marmalade. Yummmmm.....
So sweet & true.
It's interesting to me what you all see in this because it means something very specific to me but came out as something much more universal. Wondering if I should even share more about why I wrote it...or just let it be. I'll just say this for now. I didn't make the orange peels, my mom did. I watched her do it for hours at Christmas. She had never, ever made them before.
Thanks for a wonderful post, more than the sum of its parts. xo
I wish I could rate this many, many times.
Kisses,
Marcela
This reminds me of that poster, in that you list all the ways we experience love & how it is imperfect, not uniform, sweet & tart at the same time. Lovely writing, mamoore.
"keep it in a jar forever love" ... I will be envious of that line for the rest of my life ~ absolutely perfect!
xoxoxo
As for the candied orange peels - my mom made them but I am sure she used a Martha Stewart recipe which means it is probably easy to find on the internet. Worth the time they take to make. They are little treasures.
I think you're right, if we only look for "Hallmark card love" in the world, we miss out on some of the greatest loves of our life.
Rated.
Lovely poem, too.
Gwen- Thanks, glad you liked the rhythm, I haven't written much that I would call poetry so that means a lot.
Patty - Thanks for finding your way here. Glad we share the mom/orange peel memory.
Mary- Thanks, you seem like a wise woman yourself!
Imperfect, motherly love."
This is beautiful... the whole thing - wow.
"Tip-toe love." o gee, it gave me a grin and small lump in my throat. instantly
then the whole thing: a perfect form for a poem, and such restraint, such wise writing, to keep the structure so simple, to expect more from less, the concise phrases with raw feeling and meaningful art.
Some poems can end with ANYTHING, because they take us somewhere else, introduce original terms of engagement. This poem achieves that, starting with tip-toe. By the time you get to "Patient, trembling love", that plainspoken phrase seems fresh, true, new. What follows? in it's quirks (imperfect + motherly, candied orange)? just soars higher.
LOVE this.
Thank you so much! I almost missed your comments and they mean so much to me. I haven't written much I would call poetry since my teenage years and so it is with timid steps that I put this out into the world. I appreciate all you had to say, and that you came back again.