The Lovers
Stories about radical affection and care in all its forms and stages—from gay yearning to self-love ballads to heartbreak poetry.
a longing
By Moses
That time, I could only bring myself to hold her pinky, although I had a gushing waterfall within.
Now is the time for drought, there is nobody; save myself and yellow earth —
Cracked and lined,
openings on the sand like dry lips agape and gasping for a single drop.
My love? I would describe it as generous.
People come and go like waves:
be they friends, bitter feelings, hunger, or the smoke of that stunner I saw walking through the park:
tall, skin tinted, and deep blues in her braids, and eyes twinkling —
when my closet held my heart
By Mari
I love you,
I have always loved you.
For keeping me safe, for allowing me to hide during the tremblings and seizings of my world, holding on to your frame during the quakes. Even though sometimes, it felt as though I was beating my fists against your door to open it; even though sometimes, it felt as though I was shoving my shoulder against it in order to keep everything shut.
And although it wasn’t your own, although I had carried it in with me when I arrived, swaddled in the twelfth page of an old free newspaper — you took that parcel from my hands, unwrapped my unwanted heart, and gave it the peaceful home I never would. I had ripped it, bleeding, from my chest, covering my ears to hide from the pounding of my tell-tale heart; you comforted its cries, and you made sure it never missed a beat.
Roll Credits
By Leslie Vargas
Lyrics:
Break when the day’s full of light
But it makes me feel better, when the windows are bright
And hey, I know that it’s cold, but it makes me feel better when I do it alone
The better days ahead, only better when you’re dead and you’re dead
And you’re dreaming in gold, you’re desperate when you’re bold
I just smell roses and roses and roses
Hey, hey
And I know that it’s wrong
Let’s just get along
Sour Apples, Sweet Return
By Rachel Goulston
In July the apples were still sour
The grass below littered with red spots
Remnants of apples plucked
Once bitten and dropped
Rolling onto the asphalt
Crushed under spinning wheels
Hurtling towards mid-August
Where I
Wake up early one morning and drive to the coast
Eager to languish the sunrise
It’s rays stretching out over the beach
Caressing my face like golden hands
Until the return
Love and Devotion
By Vezra D.
Dear lovie,
I have such intense feelings for you. I always tell you how different I was before I met you, how I was running from love, how I thought I couldn’t handle it. But when I met you, my heart caught fire. I’d never felt such a strong pull towards someone. Even when I thought I couldn’t “do the whole gf thing,” I had already made the decision to love you.
You know I’m serious about how and who I love. Loving you has been a transformative, borderline religious experience. I’m serious about making time to see you, even if it means riding a Flixbus for hours during finals. I’m serious about making you happy with a cute text or by buying you the perfect film camera. Most of all, I’m serious about planning a life with you, and I can’t wait to finally move in together next month.
For me, love and devotion are the same, and I spend everyday at the altar of our love. You know I’ve been grappling with religious trauma for years now, but I’m at the point that if loving you was really a “sin,” I’d take hell proudly.
It’s so easy with you
By niko
vez,
you are love in its purest form. when we first met in person, i was extremely nervous. i was sweating at the bus stop under my hoodie and flight jacket, sipping on strawberry soju trying to loosen myself up, and internally panicking thinking you wouldn’t like me as much as you did over the phone.
man was i wrong…you ran right off that bus and planted the sweetest, most tender kiss on my lips. it was almost as if you read my mind and wanted to put me at ease. after you kissed me, a weight came off my shoulders. i grabbed your hand and we started our journey to my apartment. we spent that weekend talking, cuddling, watching A Different World, and eating overpriced oxtails. it was one of the best weekends of my life. who knew a dm from twitter would blossom into something as beautiful as this?
Swamp Tears
By Talia Diane N’Sele
That time, I could only bring myself to hold her pinky, although I had a gushing waterfall within.
Now is the time for drought, there is nobody; save myself and yellow earth —
Cracked and lined,
openings on the sand like dry lips agape and gasping for a single drop.
My love? I would describe it as generous.
People come and go like waves:
be they friends, bitter feelings, hunger, or the smoke of that stunner I saw walking through the park:
tall, skin tinted, and deep blues in her braids, and eyes twinkling —
dear future lover
By Cheyenne Edwards
That time, I could only bring myself to hold her pinky, although I had a gushing waterfall within.
Now is the time for drought, there is nobody; save myself and yellow earth —
Cracked and lined,
openings on the sand like dry lips agape and gasping for a single drop.
My love? I would describe it as generous.
People come and go like waves:
be they friends, bitter feelings, hunger, or the smoke of that stunner I saw walking through the park:
tall, skin tinted, and deep blues in her braids, and eyes twinkling —
The Phone Works Both Ways, Alexis Rileigh
By Lex Owens
I speak to you in hymns,
in ballet shoes and threadbare tutus.
I dance around the topic
until I can’t feel my feet.
I only speak when spoken to;
I’m lost in the other realm tonight.
I turn back the clock another hour
and hope the end of the world comes…
I guess the meteor is otherwise engaged.
I count the fingers on my hands
just to make sure I’ve still got ‘em all.
I wink at myself in the mirror
just to make sure it’s still me.
Pink
By Jordan Stewart
Everyone has the capacity for kindness.
There’s joy in the small moments, too.
None of us were meant to do this alone.
And what if we found
little pockets of love
in moments of fading daylight?
What if I rested in a second of beauty,
in a stopped car at the peak of sunset?
In the spaces between words in