This Love

not-quite Journaling, 41

“He’s so damned nice and he’s so awful.” ~ Ernest Hemingway 

 Unfortunate territory,
him. This love,
a gothic tale of horror
and desire; high-strung
and damned, this love,
and him.

8/2/2022: What does this 3-word story/poem bring to mind? What does it tell you about the speaker, the subject, the situation? I’m thinking about expanding it into a longer piece—if I decided to go that way, it would be fun to keep your thoughts about the speaker, subject, and situation in mind.

 

8/17/2022: Crafted on the back of the last blackout poem I posted (the one above). It was influenced by a comment @msmisantropia left on my “I always think of you, at night” poem. She said, “Heathcliff, it’s me…” which left me giggling and thinking gothic thoughts. Together, they read: Unfortunate territory, / him. This love, / a gothic tale of horror / and desire. If I ever expand these bits into a full-length poem/story, I’ll give it a happy ending—the world has enough real tragedy and heartbreak; fiction can (or, at least, should) do better, if only for a bit.

 

9/7/2022: I stitched this blackout from the point of view of one of the main characters in the story I’m currently working on. Now I must decide if she cares about the predicted doom (and will let go of the relationship), or if she is attracted to tumultuous (and possibly painful) love. Hm, I hope not—I tend not to have a lot of patience with characters who don’t walk away when they should. What are your favorite kinds of romantic relationships in fiction?

- for Poets and Storytellers United--Friday Writings #43: Toxic Love.