I didn’t understand that you couldn’t
live in a cathedral,
needed lower ceilings;
you never understood that our love
couldn’t live in a house
or apartment, even a skyrise
with a view,
our roads intersecting
again and again—
I never put us
in a cul-de-sac;
it always felt
like a traffic circle to me.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter:
even ghettos have churches,
and a temple is not a slum.
About the Creator
Harper Lewis
I'm a weirdo nerd who’s extremely subversive. I like rocks, incense, and witchy stuff. Intrusive rhyme bothers me. Some of my fiction might have provoked divorce proceedings in another state.😈
MA English literature, College of Charleston
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Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
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Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
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Writing reflected the title & theme
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Tatt~Master
— Assembly Line Tatt Machine ~ Impressions to Impress — As I begin to understand more about the Tattoo Phenomenon. I've written silly, yet verbatim, dating site anecdotes in 'Frazzled.' So let me ask you: Would you be More attracted to someone slathered with tattoos, or Less?
By Jay Kantor5 days ago in Humor
Comments (6)
Outstanding
This is a really interesting poem, Harper. The way you compared love to different types of roads and dwellings unraveled a unique perspective of what love is or can be depending on the focal point of those involved. You did a really good job with this. A lot of good symbolism. By the way, I thought I was subscribed to you but somehow I wasn’t. So I subscribed right now.
This poem captures the pain of two people who simply needed different things from love
I can't believe you packed so much into so few lines. Your poem can be read on so many levels and from myriad perspectives. My current reading of your poem makes me toy around with the idea that the cathedral and temple are synonymous with the speaker's being and level of emotional availability and maturity in love and relationships. It resonates with the classic "situationship" vibe, gaslighting, or co-dependent relationship where one person tears the other down to "be on their level," breadcrumbing love while the concept of "love" swirls ad nauseum in the same little dust circle of nowhere. So much I could say, but I'll stop here 😀
A cathedral, eh? I always wanted to live in a tree. l like your style Harper!
Beautiful. I often wondered why one couldn't live in one as a child.