Untitled #1 by Alexis Mitchell
It is a beautiful thing to have the capacity to love. to love and be loved, unequivocally. yet it's also a fragile thing really. to make room in the crook of your chest for another. to hand them a knife and hope that they'll never use it. that they'll never slice you open nor tear you to shreds. and even if they do, you hope the damage is repairable. that you'll be capable of still loving as long as the cuts can be stitched. It is a beautiful and damned thing to have the capacity to love—even if in doing so, it'll mean to let go. it'll mean you have to bleed. because only sometimes, that is what loving means. because love is more than just this gut wrenching, blunt force trauma type of feeling. it is a mountain of aches, spilling all the greys and in-betweens. it is not this one, narrow black and white type of thing. it is heavy but safe. nauseating but appealing. and that is what makes us believe that if it ends, it couldn't have been real. but it is real—from the moment you are stung.
“This was trashed because it felt cliché. Love is a popular theme in writing, and even though I tend to write about it often, I feel like it comes off unoriginal each time I do. I sometimes question what more could be said about love when so many have written about it or have had similar experiences.”
Alexis Mitchell (she/her) is an English teacher, author, and poet from New York. She began her writing journey at eight years old—from diaries with a lock and key to journals or random scribbles, writing has remained at the core of her existence. As of 2022, she has published 4 poetry collections: I Write, Therefore I Am, I Write Therefore I Am: Exposed, Hope Chest, and The Attic. Aside from teaching and writing, Alexis Mitchell can be found with her nose in a book or spending time with friends and family. To connect with the author, Alexis Mitchell can be found on Instagram @_lexmwrites.