tightrope walkers.

He loved the way she loved to sing, but hated when she sang along to her iPod on public transit.

She loved his flirtatious smile, but hated how he used it with a fluid sniper precision whenever he felt the situation warranted.

He spent long nights dreaming up possibilities with other women, ensconced in other lives than theirs, though he knew he'd never act on them.

She dreamt up worlds where she was only ever enough for her One, and was worshipped in her fullness, though she knew she'd never push them into reality.

When asked if they were happy, both would blink, and respond with an emphatic "Of course".

She'd come to the long hard realisation that relationships were merely a balancing act between the lies you could tolerate and those you couldn't. Each new relationship, each new lover, called for a new system of checks and balances to be assessed, as each was its own unique circumstance. Some would be allowed different latitudes in certain areas, whereas others would have none whatsoever.

 

Love is just a system of misdirection, she thought, from little white lies to the big giant tongue blistering whoppers that no one should ever unleash. It's all where your sense of touch lay.. how thin a tightrope you think you can walk before tumbling into the reality beneath, with no real hope of a safety net.

Reviews

[Nobody.]

oof! took this one on the chin. it is my favorite of yours so far because of the gut-kick honesty about life and 'love'.

people are just so full of s**t, aren't they. love is a m**********r! and we, as a society, have boiled it down to flowers and hearts and butterflies. it is sick! this poem tells the true tale....for everything you LOVE about someone..there's another that drives you mad! and everytime anybody asks how it's going...force the smile, wag the head and tell pretty little lies.
It's nonsense. I think that true love is loving it all. the goods, bads and uglies of another...and then, the hardest part, being honest with them and the world about how you feel.

f*****g brilliant piece!

[Coyote Poetry]

Your story realistic and wonderful.
"Love is just a system of misdirection, she thought, from little white lies to the big giant tongue blistering whoppers that no one should ever unleash. It's all where your sense of touch lay.. how thin a tightrope you think you can walk before tumbling into the reality beneath, with no real hope of a safety net."
The above lines could stand alone. Thank you Jennie for sharing the amazing chapter.
Coyote

[Devons]

This clinically examines and exposes what lies between the bones of 'love' and relationships: more often than not it is no more solid than it is tenuous. Some might argue that it is easy to pick faults, but the faults are numerous and one might argue also that perhaps there really shouldn't be any at all, let alone so many. The reality is that the whole thing is a structural house of cards made up of many subtle -but no less significant- compromises. Or, depending on how you choose to look at it, hypocrisies.
"Love is just a system of misdirection, she thought...
how thin a tightrope you think you can walk before tumbling into the reality beneath, with no hope of a safety net."
A profoundly understanding, critically psychological piece of writing which runs so deep that many people will find it hard to take. The truth hurts.

[Crowley]

(swallows hard) thats a hard pill to swallow, but the medicine is necessary if we are going to figure out this thing we call life. I read about all the romance and giddiness on the pages of WC and then the torture and meanness in the same pages and I have to believe that you are absolutely right, although it makes my soul sad to think that way. Is it too much to expect to want some one thoroughly and forever? Is it natural or is it not natural to pair and split, pair and split or is it something that is just a remnant of cultures that we have created for controlling populations. I feel like an a*s about some of the paths I have taken...but I find in the eyes and hearts of others that they have or really desire to take those same paths. If you didn't notice...this is a seriously discussable short. You have really laid down a line, I hope I didn't cross it.

[DavidRyanM]

"relationships were merely a balancing act between the lies you could tolerate and those you couldn't" brilliant lines, dear. I think that's one of the most real assessments on a subject that I have heard in a really long time.