love – Page 8 – hidden pilcrow

The vaginaless monologues (2)

Published on 29/08/202301/09/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski3 Comments

Never get married before thirty, at the very least. If you feel ready, believe me, you are not. If you think you love her more than anything else in the world, think twice. Before you commit to someone else, outgrow that man-boy still trying to figure out what this is all about and who that terrified face staring back at him in the mirror is. Don’t lie to her—more so to yourself. Do you think she will not find out one day? Do you think she will not see through you eventually? And are you absolutely sure that, even if she is content with what she is getting now, she will not kick you out of the door once you finally become the man you are supposed to be and she comes to the conclusion that she actually doesn’t like that person? It’s one thing if that only affects you, but it is a whole different story when kids are involved. Not to mention your pocket—hardly deep enough to cover the lawyers’ greed. But if you still decide to jump into those muddy waters, at least make sure you have a well-written, signed, and secured prenup. Maybe one day it will save your skin. Then enjoy your love ride to the very end—its or yours, whichever comes first.

a woman with her eyes closed gives an anatomically accurate heart to a man standing in front of her

I didn’t steal your heart

Published on 24/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

In everything you say, it matters not only what you say
but also where you put the emphasis.
Like this little cutie: I didn’t steal your heart.
I didn’t steal your heart—something else did.
I didn’t steal your heart—it turned out to be just a minor misunderstanding on my part.
I didn’t steal your heart—you can’t steal what isn’t there, can you?
I didn’t steal your heart—Chance is a mighty Pandarus.
I didn’t steal your heart—what I took will remain my sweet secret for ever.

A living dead

Published on 19/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

When not like a complete stranger, I usually look like someone’s colleague, often a neighbour,
sometimes even a father, but never like a husband or boyfriend, at least. How come, you ask?
Well, I tried once, but it turned out that looks can be deceptive, and the whole law of attraction,
if I ever believed in it, is nothing but a sedative. Of course, once tranquillized, I might make it
through another day. The problem is that being alive is not the same as living. So tell me, then,
what does that make me look like?

Mariane

Published on 17/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

For Makenna

An ocean and three decades apart, how pathetic can a heart be
to change its beat for a blooming wit? Has it learned nothing
from Molière’s old geezer about what awaits a risible suitor?
Perhaps the Harpagons of yore really are my only brethren
in this old conundrum, but for what it is worth, I can always
share a verse about it.

A woman is looking at a man who is sitting in an armchair with his hands behind his head

Elocution lessons

Published on 13/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

I thought a bet was all it would take, but I forgot that we are responsible for what we tame,
dear Eliza. On the other hand, are you absolutely sure that throwing the slippers in my face
is what you really want? You must know that changing me, if at all possible, is not a matter
of simple elocution lessons.

A woman on the street tries to stop a couple in love

Mind what you sign

Published on 13/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

Passing couples in love on the street, I get jealous, but I also feel sorry for them.
They do not know yet that what they feel is just chemically induced infatuation,
not much different from inebriation, which distorts their perception of each other.
They are not aware that under the surface lurk reefs on which this brief illusion
will crash eventually, and the only thing that can save their skin is not a signature
on the marriage certificate but a well-prepared prenup.

young woman playing guitar on fire escape in New York City

Expectations

Published on 08/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski2 Comments

Why can I not be C.C. Baxter, Paul Varjak, or even Harry Burns
(but not Phil Connors—I find Rita annoying)? Where is my turn
for a game of gin rummy and Moon River listened to on the fire
escape? I guess it all boils down to managing one’s expectations
since life is not a romcom; you could hardly call it drama, either.
It is more like a whole slew of footage that did not make the cut.
CCTV footage, I mean. But you know what? At least this time
it is you who holds the scissors.

a young woman wearing only an oversized white tuxedo sleep shirt walks across the room with a goblet in her hand

Breakfast at Holly’s

Published on 06/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

If you roam around your place in nothing but an oversized white tuxedo sleep shirt
while holding a crystal goblet full of milk, you are my kind of girl—or everyone’s,
I suppose. I may even skip a ‘decorator’ as an excuse to meet you. Also, I am a writer,
just so you know—well, a poet, but a real one, and fortunately, not having a ribbon
in a typewriter is no longer an issue. Just please do not water my plants with whisky.
And yes, we are friends. We will be, even when one day, long after we find a ring
in a box of Cracker Jack and a name for the cat, instead of Fred, you start calling me
Doc.

Funny thing

Published on 02/08/2023 by Maciej Modzelewski1 Comment

It is easy to be in love in a poem because the object of your affection does not snore
or have bad breath, or for that matter, any of the myriad little things that annoy the hell
out of you. It is easy to be in love in real life too, because even if it happens that Romeo
or Juliet of yours farts at the table during a romantic date, the hormonal cocktail flooding
your brain will make you see nothing but that cute blush of embarrassment. But the same
blush twenty years later, if it happens at all, will test your patience one too many times.
Funny thing—love—a tipsy bookkeeper on leave.