Ashlee

You are the tree which grows sideways,
and the rock which holds it steady;
--
and I know our simple love
is much like menstruation,

with the ebb and the cut
of our own stolen knives

but I love you; you saved me
those nights when the owls came
and lights came, and hands held
our grottos in place,
and they grew through our hearts.

And we became one as we became two.

And I will love you
until I break my own back
pulling weight from your eyebrows,
and save all our laugh-lines
for rainier days.

Reviews

[Ethan]

I must confess I don't understand a lot of the imagery in this poem. Can you help me out?

[S Olson]

Maybe if you needed me to clarify specific things - this was a strange one, because I wrote it describing memories she and I share. They're emotions she'd understand, because they're specific to her.

That makes it difficult to describe the imagery out of context, because they're all flashes of memory. For instance

"and you saved me
those nights when the owls came
and lights came, and hands held"

We have this special little grotto we go to that's brimming with owls at night. We like watching them hunt in the dark; owls are also one of her favorite things.

The lights are referring to headlights, but there's no way that could be surmised - that was specifically for her. It calls back to a few times when crazies in trucks snuck up on us in the night, alone. I held her hand and kept her calm. Etc. That's what made this poem my "gift" to her, if you will.

[Ethan]

Gotcha. Even that little bit helps.

[S Olson]

I posted it for her - I knew it wouldn't be easily understood. But she liked seeing it on here, so I left it. Glad that helped, at least a little bit 👌🏼