Illustration by Theresa Jaminet

POETRY: The highs and lows of love

Need a poem or two to read, recite and cry to during the holiday of love? Whether it’s falling slowly in love with a friend or escaping the toxicity of a previous relationship, here are two poems about the ups and downs of love on Valentine’s Day.

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The Season of Pot Roast

By: Bobbi Coffee

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You offered me pot roast at 9 in 

the morning and all I offered was silence. 

Befuddled, brows wrinkled, 

shortly after the day we sat cradled by 

your worn wooden balcony. Gabbing over 

nicotine

The Strokes

Smackdown… 

When the world is busy immortalizing 

martyrs or Lupercalia with a dozen roses.

When promise rings are 

bludgeoned and beaten into existence.

When the toll to celebrate costs 

a love letter 

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a night out 

Ghirardelli, 

You offered pot roast and WWE. 

And at 9 in the morning, I thought about 

all the sweet and simple ways you 

said “I love you” and I didn’t know it. 

Illustration by Theresa Jaminet

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“Yearning”

By: Julie Mishchuk

The space between us is a raging wildfire

and as lonely as the cafe we sat in

The cruel laughter of yearning echoes

in my head, punishing me for my desire

I taste my name on your lips,

dancing with blackberry wine

But sitting across the room

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like strangers would,

I bargain with the universe again

“Go to hell,” I would say,

and he would listen

But hungry, incessant yearning

holds me hostage, possessing me

like a dark, malevolent spirit

Filling my lungs and suffocating me,

consuming me alive with thoughts of him

And lingering around the city

like the misery that plagues it,

it pulls me into places you might be

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