ODE OF THE HOPELESS ROMANTIC - LAYLA NOOR LANDRUM

ode of the hopeless romantic ode of the hopeless romantic

By Layla Noor Landrum

i want to be loved without asking for it. i have been starving for the taste since i was born. my parents made my body a black hole— always reaching. never close. i look at the stars & ache for them. want to pull them from the sky & swallow them whole. i was not raised for wanting. it frightens me, my desire. it is bigger than any room. i may have grown into violence, but i can love gently, become a revelation with my lips on another girl’s mouth. watch her sleep & let myself dream of a love that feels like a heavenly body. a love that goes straight through me, like a beam of light.