TO LOVE IS TO SURRENDER

The body never readies us for this responsibility. Nor anticipates courage
for the very moment
we are rearranged
bone by bone.

And once you are, you must agree
to swallow comfort.
To dance on quicksand
and condense all sense of ego.

Do not reach for love
with vinyl-gloved hands,

Do not call its name
with the same cadence
of an ordinary word

Do not seek to be seen
and refuse the x-ray
of a sonnet.

Remember
that guarantees rarely
taste precious,
this cosmic process
demands submissive hearts.

So show yourself to sacrifice
which owes you nothing.

Abandon lifevest to the water,
let the shipwreck taunt
your skin.

Accept the risk of sallow tint
of romance after.

Accept strappado—slow,
with no control
of ropes.

And if you bear it:
the steel of you so beautifully blown open
—call it brave.

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Erica Nicole, 33, Kalamazoo, MI - USA ✯ IG: @ericatheeb & ericanicolewriting.substack.com

“Erica is a writer, activist, and designer living in the Southwest Michigan area. Her work has been published on TheNation.com, and she currently writes on her Substack newsletter called Black Girl Ruminations.”