Amanda Lovelace

when love wants to die, all it has to do is come in search of me.

& even oceans
feared the multitudes in me.

i can’t tell
the difference
between
you
&
the dead
of
winter.

a merry-go-round
loop

& i could never
get past the ‘why’—

why why why
why why why

he
told me
i was an
obligation

like
grocery shopping
on an
empty stomach,

but you
told me
i was as
vital

as
that
after-dinner
cigarette

you
could never
have just
one of.