I never needed anyone to teach me how to love what I needed was understanding and acceptance while my love is kind and sweet most of the time my love also cannot be tamed at times when it gets wild and out of control it’s better to just ride the big wave of it until it is tamed and soft again it wasn’t that I didn’t know how to love It’s just that most don’t know how to handle it my kind of overwhelming love is a crazy kind of love it will hurt you, challenge you and bring conflict it will make you want to slap the shit out of me because yes it’s that intense but my kind of of love is always worthy
My copy of Love Pangs is a little banged up because I keep rereading it
Melia Cogan has done it again with her second poetry collection. She paints a picture of the beauty of love and the euphoria it brings to one’s life. This book will make you weak at your knees and perhaps even want to get you on a dating app to look for that special someone to experience the magic of love. Cogan explores the mosaic of emotions that come with love. Through Cogan’s verse, I was transported to the alluring and sometimes tumultuous journey of love.
I’ll talk about my 2 favorite poems from the poetry collection.
One of the poems that really resonated with me was “Should I Allow Myself”. I liked how profound this poem is-it speaks about allowing yourself to fall in love recklessly while risking your vulnerability. It’s risking everything to be in the moment of that special memory of love. This is presented in the lines “Together/the possibilities/reach for me in the night/and primarily/I wish they were you (Cogan)”. It’s a desire for longing to be with that special someone.
The other poem that I really related to was “I’m Hiding from Love”because that’s kind of where I’m at right now. This is captured in the lines “Well. I enjoy my boat not toppling over in the sea/and my house not catching on fire (Cogan). Cogan is perceptive of what heartbreak feels like and how some of us are so burned by it,we’ll avoid it at all costs. The metaphors of the boat and fire feel like a truth I’ve encountered many times. It’s how anger and sorrow makes me feel like I’m either drowning or burning inside when it comes to heartbreak. Cogan captures these strong emotions in an intelligent and creative way that I’m sure resonates with mine and others’ experiences with the agony and torment that grief from heartbreak can bring.
I would recommend this poetry collection if you like to explore the depths of love and the complex emotions that come with it.
When I look at you- I see a promise of love in the purest form No ulterior motives No second guessing You’re sure of me You love me I’m not used to this This-which is easy This-which is true This-which is happiness This -which is a gift of intimacy Wrapped up in your embrace
This was my response to prompt #25:A thing your life has in excess
I still get mad when it rains though
I lie to myself about my lack of love The truth is that love is everywhere to be found My mom who calls to check in on me My tia who sends me Buenos Días videos My coworkers who put up with my many moods My kids who tell me “I got you ma” when I can’t figure out the latest household gadget My friends who listen to me without judgment Love is everywhere I am and it’s time for me to radically accept it
This is my response to prompt #15: the best kind of surprise
sometimes you have to say “fuck it”
Love surprises me with a glance, with a slight touch on my hand And 99.9 percent of me wants to run I don’t want to take a chance once again with my sanity but the romantic in me say “fuck it” maybe this will finally be a different story one where my lover doesn’t leave
Faulkner wrote about her ancestors She stood like a pillar of strength between her mother and daughter She stood strong as both of them held her arms that were their life jackets as they drowned in endless sorrows Tears silently fell from her face as her father laid in his closed home And the reverend went on about him being in a better place And her strength did not falter, She let her loved ones hold on tight while she tried to blink away tears , She swallowed her pain and absorbed the pain from those around her She wasn’t just strong for her mother and daughter, but she was a goddess of strength among the mere mortals around her that wept
Escribí este poema en el 2016 cuando una ola de nostalgia me visito y me puse a pensar en mi primer amor.
La inocencia del primer amor Se queda como un tatuaje en tu mente Nunca podrás olvidar cómo se sintió Ese primer beso nervioso O como buscaban rincones escondidos Para mostrarse amor Nunca se olvida la gran emoción Que llevas dia por dia al verlo Y nunca, nunca olvidarás el primer amor Que falleció con su repente desamor
Con solo 16 años pensaba que sabía lo que era el amor
I wrote this poem in 2016 when I was reflecting on how different my children were. At the time, my middle son was going through a difficult time and it was hard to deal with.
my 3 sons in July of 2021
Living with my three children
Is like living in three different countries
My oldest would be Singapore
With strict rules and laws,
He hates flaws in himself
And others and is unforgiving
It’s challenging to live in
Singapore
My middle child would be a war torn ridden country
I wrote this in 2015 inspired by a situation I was going through.
me around the time I wrote this poem
A Song to My Lover
Songs are written about people like us Good songs and bad songs, r&b songs, pop songs, and of course country songs Songs that try to capture the complexity of infidelity Most of them try to capture the guilt and the grief Some of them capture the romantic notion Of secret meetings, stolen kisses And the excitement But there doesn’t seem to be A particular song for us… Could a song really capture something so profound and beautiful ? Something tainted by the reality of our situation Being with my husband is a commitment I made It’s an everyday task, not for the faint of heart Being with you is easy It’s refreshing not having to try so hard to make sweet reality work It’s amazing that you know what to do to make me feel wanted And my poor husband still hasn’t got a clue It’s refreshing that when you are with me, You see a person, a lover and not just a wife and mother These are things neve appear in songs because our truth is an alternate universe of the complexities of finding contentment from someone else at the wrong time
I wrote this poem sometime around 2014 or 2015. I was feeling nostalgic about a former flame I had been obsessed with. This tends to happen a lot with me. Letting go of my past is hard at times.
It’s a wound that never closes No matter how many years are spent trying to close it
To taste the pure heaven that is you and have it swept from under me in a sudden swoop made the everlasting wound
I looked everywhere for somebody to help me close it But no matter how hard they tried, the wound wouldn’t come close to closing
I finally met someone who lessened the pain of the wound with his gentle and understanding nature But even after 6 years as his patient the wound remains open
I wrote this poem in December of 2016 after my almost love affair with death on December 5th. It’s strange how aside from my journal entries from that month, I hardly remember that month. I just remember feeling so broken inside and like a failure after that happened that it was so hard to get up every morning. I do know that writing saved me during that time because I started journaling way more consistently. I would learn years later after being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder that up to 10 percent of people with BPD die by suicide. Five years later, I’m glad that I had people by my side that prevented me from becoming one in ten. I’m glad that afterwards, I was able to slowly come back from thiseven if I was mostly depressed the year after and it was a fight to get up every single day.
For more information about the high risk of BPD and Suicide, here is a link from Psychology Today with info about it:
This another poem inspired about the great breakup of 2001. I probably wrote this when it first happened. My sense of reality is shook up after a break up and it feels like a never ending nightmare that I’ll never wake up from after it happens. This doesn’t happen with every break up…just the ones that really affect me.
Waiting
So I wait for the phone to ring To hear you say this loneliness has all been a horrible dream So I wait for you to show up at my door To tell me you can’t stand being away from me no more So I wait for your love letter in my mailbox To begin getting back together
