---

 

This writing was accepted for publication in the 108 page perfect-bound ISSN#/ ISBN# issue/book “More Softly than the Thunder” cc&d, v306 (the February 2021 issue) Order the 6"x9" paperback book:

Order this writing in the book What Lies on the Other Side the cc&d Jan.-April 2021 magazine issues collection book		get the 424 page Jan.-April 2021 cc&d magazine 6" x 9" ISBN# perfect-bound paperback book:

Love is not a four letter word

Erren Kelly

For Louella & Lolo Rogers
My Grandparents who have been married
for 50 years

I hope this will suffice
Forgive me
For not coming to the
Anniversary celebration
But I haven’t feeling
Too optimistic about
Love

I know man is a walking contradiction
And though I claim to be an unapolegetic cynic
Love is the only fire
That gives life
To my heart

But lately
I’ve been getting tired
Of writing love poems
Tired of seeing love
Only as an equation to money

Tired of seeing women
cling to one man
yet willing to peddle
themselves to another
If they had more to
offer

I wish today was like
The old days
Not because I’m nostalgic
But because
I would give anything
To see you and Granddaddy
My age
When Zoot suits
Made men
Made cars made of steel
To last longer
Like love made you two,
To last

You are one of the few
Who tried and got it
right

You and Granddaddy
Built your love
Like he built your house
Built it to withstand
Castastrophe
Anarchy
And the Cacophony
Of Ordinary days

How I wish I could’ve been
That serviceman
Fighting off in a foreign land
Disregarding the bombs
Whistling over my head
Every night I’d go to bed
With your picture to my chest
A smile on my face
And a song in my heart

I know what Louis Armstrong meant
When he sang What a wonderful world

But no one wants to build
Love any more

Love is now mergered
Legislated
Compromised and
Orchestrated

Love is forever a top 40 staple

Love is dysfunctional
On a talk-show table

How I long to have a love
Like yours

Grandmother your love
Overwhelms me

Makes me afraid to see you
Sometimes
Because between you and Mama
I’ll never be skinny

I remember you used to come over
and dig bait,took me and my brothers
Fishing, And with a machete you hunted snakes
With no fear

When I stole,you beat me until I cried
To heaven to save me

Yet,you always fed me
Cos the only thing you hated worse tham me thieving
was seeing me hungry

Granddaddy dropped out of grade school
But got his high school diploma
by mail

learned how to fix anything
Electrical or Mechanical

If only he could’ve fixed
Hearts
Like he fix cars
Toasters
Electrical outlets

Then Mama wouldn’t have ended
up alone

And some black men are dogs
A dog’s life is what my Daddy lives
Is not my Granddaddy’s life
And will never be mine

Cos love shouldn’t be a bargaining chip
In bedroom whispers

Love is not a football tossed
around by brothers
who only seek to score
at the expense of another’s
affections

I want a love like the house Granddaddy built

I want a love that
makes a liar out of statistics

I want a love that makes
Old-school Rhythm and Blues song
Ring true again

It was your love
That put Uncle Pappy in check
And brought him back from Vietnam a man

It was the same love
Cousin Marlon shit on
And will never know
As he sits in an iron cell

It is the same love I
Fear/respect/envy
and appraise

No sonnet could ever know
of the dog days
When the two of you
went to church and
swore devotion to God
So ya’ll could
Stay around longer
and devote

Yourselves to each other

I want a love like the house Granddaddy built

One that can’t be dissected by analysts

Defecated on by MTV Madness

Or belittled by Mack Daddies
Whose calloused hearts make them
think with little heads
Instead of big ones

I want a love like the house Granddaddy built

Because though I sleep alone now
doesn’t mean I’ll sleep alone forever

I may be mars and she may be venus
but we’ll end up together

And I’ll think of my Grandparents
How ya’ll argued and backbite
Yet always lay together in a home
never fearing the night

Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.

Problems with this page? Then deal with it...