A Notion of Love

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What does love feel like? Does it feel like fire in your throat and ice in your lungs? Does it feel like brands on your legs and a sword in your heart? Does it feel like stitches torn open? Does it feel like sharp nails raking down your throat and face? Does it feel like the shrinking underneath the stare of a sneer? Does it feel like anything at all?

Or does it feel like the brush of a leaf against your face? The warmth of a sloth-like hug or the ruffle of hair? Does it feel like a new bracelet against your skin or of the brief pain of the flash of a camera? Does it feel like an elbow against your shoulder or the brush of paint against your face? Does it feel like the bass of a children’s song reverberating throughout your body? Does it feel like the flakes of a freshly opened pack of candy? I’m sure it feels like something, after all.

What does love look like? Does it look like the tremble of fingers? Does it look like a stony smile and eyes made of tinted glass? Does it look like tear tracks running down a face or a face contorted in anger? Does it look like the stomping of a foot or a snarl or a frown? Does it look like dark, panda-like rings under eyes from lack of sleep? Does it look like a handmade mask, freshly painted and with no idea whose underneath? Can you even tell what love looks like at all?

Or does it look like half smiles at poor attempts at jokes? Does it look like octopuses and spiders and skulls and swords painted on skin? Does it look like a picture of two people that look alike? Does it look like a grin like a Cheshire cat on speed or of a new combination of eye shadow everyday? Does it look like neon purple and green wigs or the strange mutation of pointed ears? Does it look like an impersonation of the Grudge? Does it look like midnight where everybody throws off their masks? Because I know what love looks like.

What does love sound like? Does it sound like screams and yells or the gasp of a high breathy sob? Does it sound like arguments late at night? Does it sound like the muffled scream into a pillow because of nightmares? Does it sound like a voice full of annoyance and exasperation? Does it sound like desperation mistaken for attitude? Does it sound like unaccepted pleas of apologies? Can you even hear love at all?

Or does it sound like a voice singing old rock songs? Does it sound like the jingle of earrings and necklaces and even shoelaces at Christmastime? Does it sound like late night ringtones and hushed voices or loud laughs? Does it sound like a person choking mistakenly taken for laughter, which makes them laugh harder? Does it sound like a cry from across the room or a sudden spook of the word Boo!? Does it sound like indignant curses and small innuendos that you make even though you know you’ll get in trouble for later? Does it sound like a trademark laugh? Maybe I believe I have heard the sounds of love.

What does love taste like? Does it taste like uncooked pork? Does it taste like leafy greens and those disgusting olives and the slide of a chickpea down a throat? Does it taste like tasteless grub that they serve in prisons or like the salt of a tear? Does it taste like malice or disgust or the acrid metallic tang of blood? Does it taste like that mushy food that nobody will tell you what it is but swears you’ll like it? Can people even taste love at all?

Or does it taste like occasionally burnt or occasionally burnt pizza or like strawberry smoothies? Does it taste like apples? Does it taste like Sudoku or like a shared bag of fruit snacks? Does it taste like food shoved down your throat in an insistence to get fatter? Does it taste like strawberries with whipped cream or a pack of Pocky? Does it taste like satisfaction? Love, I think, actually would taste quite delicious.

There is always a possibility in different kinds of love.

There is, after all, the notion of being in love and simply loving someone.

Or possibly love is all of these.

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A/N: I wrote this after a good-turned-to-awful night. Sorry if it makes no sense.

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