Perhaps & In The Park by Holly Payne-Strange
Perhaps
Perhaps I am not in love with you.
Perhaps I am enthralled,
Dangerously besotted and beautifully dedicated.
Maybe being with you feels fresh and easy,
Natural as a hibiscus,
Blossoming in some salubrious, sundrenched field.
No more, or less, complicated
Than the open ocean.
What if you made me better, wiser, happier,
And when I look at you, my soul smiles?
Love.
No one really knows what it is.
We make all these grand claims,
Use the word for restaurants, boots, and children,
Pets, parents, and partners,
All the same.
For you, it is a cage.
A rose, certainly, but solely the thorns,
A mess of obligation, of risk and pain.
A reasonable interpretation.
I would not give you that poisoned chalice.
So sit with me a stretch,
And enjoy our sunlight.
You are not obligated to anything.
In The Park
I was looking at a tulip today.
It made me think of you.
I know, what doesn’t, these days?
The fountain bubbled behind me
A rainfall of controlled calm,
Forbidden, no matter how much I want to play in it.
And before me the flower swayed,
Standing graceful and alone.
His petals curving proudly,
Cascading yellow to red,
Too exuberant to stick to only one.
It hardly bears repeating
But damn it's true
The beautiful things in this world
Remind me of you.
“Why I never submit ‘Perhaps’ piece anywhere: Well, I’m very hesitant to really talk about love. It feels so…twee. I do write about it alot, but I hide it behind metaphor or oblique language. However, this poem was written as I was coming to terms with caring for someone who was aromantic, so I really couldn't figure out a different way to talk about it. It’s very on the nose. But at least it’s honest.
Why I never submit ‘In The Park’ anywhere: I have a total love/hate relationship with this poem. The truth is, I do really like that last stanza. It makes me feel suave. If someone said that to me, I’d blush so hard! But I’m convinced other people will just laugh at it- we all know rhyming poetry isn't exactly “cool”. So I don't think I’ve ever sent this one out.”
Holly Payne-Strange (she/her) is a novelist, poet and podcast creator currently residing in New Jersey with her wife and three cats. Her upcoming novel, All Of Us Alone will be a recommended read for Women Writers, Women’s books in December 2023. Her sci-fi/horror writing includes poetry for Gnashing Teeth Publications, Icebreaker Lit, Medusa’s Kitchen and Raven Quoth.