Love Poem 101

[Hawkman]

Love, that snaggle-toothed old whore,
has grasped the hearts of many with her claws
and poets, as they write their odes
to un-named beau’s fantastic charms,
perpetuate her myth -
but love is a parasitic gift.

And when she’s drunk her fill
and licked her smiling, bloody lips
the harlot falls away, bloated like a tick,
to nestle in the grass where careless children play.
There she’ll lay her eggs and wait,
like fate, to fasten on a smile, a glance,
caught unnoticed in a trance between two friends,
though in her wake they’ll only find the place
where friendship ends.

[everyadventure]

ZING! An unexpected offering, Hawkman, and a powerful one at that. I have the heebie jeebies and hereby swear off love. I'm sure my husband will understand.

[Delta40]

I'm almost offended that the perpetrator of love is a harlot and a whore which makes her female but the skill with which this is written overides the offence. I'll just shower and make sure no love ticks are stuck to me!

[tailor STATELY]

Cute title.

Well written poem.

It does leave one uneasy. I now have visions of Shelob playing cupid that will haunt me.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor STATELY

[Hawkman]

ea & Delta:

Thanks for reading and commenting. This poem was inspired partly by SleepyWitch's poll thread in General Chat about romance or friendship and its subsequent discussions and partly by the presence of a plethora of love poems posted recently. There was nothing wrong with the love poems per se, but The Imp of the Perverse prompted me to pen a rebuttal - lol.

The title makes reference to both Orwell's room 101 and the contemporary short-hand for the basic lesson.

As for the gender assignment I'm afraid that love dieties (at least the ones I'm familiar with) are predomenently female, although Cupid/Eros (once described by Bob Hope as, "Venus' little problem child" can't be discounted. However, Gigollo is just too much of a mouthful for punchy poetry (in context) and rent-boy has other connotations...

Still, I hope that Mr adventure doesn't feel too put out by the poem's influence upon you ea, and that the shower is effective Delta :D

Live and be well - H

Hi tS: Shelob as Cupid! Love it! lol. Wasn't it Aphrodite who turned Arachne into a spider? No, come to think of it, it was Athena...

Live long and prosper - H

[yuka]

Well, a powerful piece. Hawk. love it.

BTW, I also love your avatar

[Hawkman]

Thanks, yuka, glad you enjoyed both the poem and the avatar. :)

Live and be well - H

[hillwalker]

An anti-love poem indeed - I liked the downbeat ending suggesting that friendship ends when love begins. Chilling almost.

H

[Jack of Hearts]

This one really nailed it. Love is a tick and a snaggle-toothed old whore...

This is a poem a person wishes they'd heard read aloud with other people. Imagine the crack up. The mixture of humor and pathos is well done.







J

[PrinceMyshkin]

Who would have thought that elegance and vitriol could be such interesting partners!

[Hawkman]

hill: thanks. Certainly freindship between lovers might be said to become conditional, but I had it in mind that friendship seldom survives the end of the affair.

Jack: glad you liked it. You have my permission to read it out to your friends at your next literary gathering. Just don't forget to give me the credit - lol.

Prince: cheers! According to colour theory, contrast is always complimentary :)

Live and be well - H