In Lieu of Flowers

ten surprising places where love can be found

1. Ghost-quiet bar, Saturday night, suffocating loneliness, a long-lost childhood friend answers your call.

2. Inside not-so-painless memories of bubblegum-flavoured kisses from someone who used to call you theirs.

3. Berri-Uqam station, before she gets up you scream through your eyes "I wish I could've asked for your number, but I'll be thinking about you all day." She smiles—did she hear?

4. 7 AM, Tim Hortons, hurried-up, stressed-out, impatient pricks ordering large coffees with too much sugar. He walks up to her slowly as if time on his distant planet was irrelevant. Ivory white teeth appear behind the curtains of his plumped peach-coloured lips. He wants to know how she's doing on this sunny day, (not great but she lies, it's customary). She blushes as the stranger compliments her on the rebel curls escaping the hair net. "Just a small black coffee, please." But of course, she gave him a large.

5. Piss-smelling alley of the scorned souls. The brown one shivers on the ground, curled up against his German Shepherd's frail body. The ginger one is trembling too, but got to sleep on a dry bed last night. He takes off his cigarette-burnt corduroy jacket to cover the two friends. Warmth wraps them up as they slowly drift off to sleep.

6. Estranged siblings. She drives by his window every morning to catch a glimpse of his eyes. She'd stop if she'd see him cry.

7. A playground, 15 years ago. A spaghetti-stained mouth whispering words you never thought you'd hear: "You're prettier than all the girls at my school."

8. She forgot who you were, forgot she was the one to cut your umbilical cord, who sang Au clair de la lune until you fell asleep & told you in secret you were her favourite. Yesterday, she called you to sing Happy Birthday, it's in seven months. But yesterday, she remembered your name.

9. Pancake-swollen marks on the skin of the daughter of a mother who never got to heal the wounds she got when she too, was just a child.

10. Naked, in front of a mirror.