“Love is raw as freshly cut meat, mean as a beetle on the track of dung”
~ Jim Harrison from Songs of Unreason
mention love but try not to add anything
think of a summer’s day by all means
but stay well away from sonnets
waffle, cliches, hackneyed phrases
prose painted purple
mention love but not in the same breath
as roses, sanguine and fresh as meat
that gesture can go either way
girls go astray, someone’s bound to draw blood
or turn bitter
mention love as adversary, the unwelcome guest
the sudden, involuntary reflex
those terrible tears and heaving hearts
the way it tracks down the dung of our never-agains
and up-cycles them for another pull on the petals
mention love where it’s most expected
and mean it – in the midst of lust, childbirth
the thousand natural shocks we know by rote*
prayers to an invisible God and if there is a heaven’s gate
admit to love
[*of course Prince Hamlet made an appearance here]
I can try some poetry out on most things but love is the hardest of all. Still I love Jilly’s picks of Jim Harrison quotes as poetry prompts and am joining her on Day 20 of 28 Days of Unreason
PoetryPix 