Nope. Nope. Nope.
Nopenopenopenopenope.
Nope.
Nope. Nope.
Like.
Nope. Nope. Nope.
Superlike (?!)
My thumb aches.
But just when I’m about to switch apps,
Congratulations!
You have a new match.
Swipe in the
direction opposite to your political orientation
Your bio reads.
But do you?
Yes. Rordan, Branderson, Neiman, Tatchett
And I ghost you
Ten years ago
I had asked someone the same question.
TolkienLewisPaoliniAsimov,
you had rattled off.
Oh, and Twilight sucks.
So I gave the frankly ponderous
LoTR a chance
That I wouldn’t otherwise have
And hated Twilight
Before I’d even cracked it open.
I had thought
If I loved the books you did
Maybe I could get you to love me too.
Five years ago
I had asked someone (different)
the same question.
Rordan-Branderson-Neiman-Tatchett.
You said you were a feminist, too
You knew your entrenched sexism
From your internalized homophobia
And you loved books.
So I believed you.
Once the clothes fell off
The books fell shut
Their permanent cracks mirroring
The temporary ones on my spine.
I was persuaded
into kissing you.
Afterwards, you read me
The first three chapters of Pride & Prejudice
So I thought
At least we had Lizzie-Darcy charades
While it lasted.
But five years on
I’ve still not touched Branderson or Rordan.
So when the Tinder boy tells me
You HAVE to read Branderson
I say sorry, but I’m a little overwhelmed
By all the Ferrantes and Pamuks
On my bookshelf.
A shelf-full of love.
Of notes.
Of love notes
Not all of which are to someone else.
You don’t recommend
your way into my life,
for I’ve changed my litmus test
By now.
I don’t ask
Which books d’you read?
But
How intersectional is your feminism?
You know everything
Except the words.
So I decide to gift you book upon book
But you’d rather re-watch FRIENDS.
One day, while you’re streaming the latest GoT
I resume swiping.
I had thought
If I could get you to love
The books that I do
Maybe I could get myself
To love you too.
Perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of love and dating for the 'woke' generation of millennials, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAlso the realization that the algorithm of having the same politics, same aesthetic and intellectual frameworks is not necessarily foolproof, that it need not translate into same goals in love and companionship - nicely captured through the citing of all those texts and works.
Also, thanks! Now I know who to read to rev up my intersectional dating game.
Thank you Nelson :)
DeleteI have a technical confusion. Is the second person in the thirteenth stanza the same at the one in the first stanza? Or the does the second person keep changing? Otherwise, it's a great observation about the books and how they can influence relationships.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sreoshi!
DeleteNo, they're different. The second person is changing throughout.
Its not even funny how much I nodded and smiled while reading this poem. The line which definitely stays with me is "I don’t ask which books do you read? But how intersectional is your feminism?" Can completely relate.
ReplyDelete