I wouldn't call it love
What I felt when I first met him
But I certainly felt something
Which I quickly wrote off as whim
A tickle in my chest
That inched down to my fingertips
Then made its way back up
To raise the corners of my lips

It wasn't all that special though
I've had crushes before
If you're looking for a sappy tale
You'll have to look some more
Love came in like all other fancies
A hint of what could be
Who knew that in such little time
It would progress so differently

I don't think love is blatant
It has no trumpet fare
One day while you aren't looking
It just sneaks in and pulls up a chair
So maybe next time you feel
A small tickle or your face flush
Remember every great love story
Starts with "just" a crush

I have been mad, addicted
With conjuring your presence
I'm hopelessly afflicted
With longing for your essence
But I do not seek your attention
For you are but my mind's creation

The craving had been
More of a need
As of late

Energy taken
Energy generated
Or one could also say
One cultivated
One gave away
Every little thought
That you think

Isolated
from the rest of you
With steel walls
And the tallest gates
Barricade myself
In a little
Me sized
Cave

Wouldn't be surprised
If I never
            Even
                Came Out!

I don’t know what we are doing
I don’t know what we are calling it
I don’t know what I see months down the road for us
But I do know that when he looks at me he sets every single part of me on fire

I don't write love poems,
It's just not something I do.
Maybe that's because
I've never been in love.
That is, until I met you.

You monopolize my limbic system,
Leaving me to limbo under my emotions.
Look, you know I had to include some **** like that.
Don't laugh at me, you loveable *******.

I'm staring at the notepad app
On my phone,
Trying to think of how to say what's on my heart.
I type a few words, then I stop,
And realize that I don't know where to start.

Lips sealed shut,
Unable to speak -
I'm a frazzled mess;
An energizer bunny of stress,
With electrifying panic.
For a moment I forgot how to breathe:
Giving my brain some oxygen
May help a little.

"I don't know if you feel the same,
But I wanted to check and see."
I wanted to say so, so much more.
Like how your voice is the most enrapturing melody I've ever heard,
Or how rewarding your laugh is,
Or how intricate the stories you tell are,
Or how you say the most amazing things,
Or how you can make me laugh harder than anyone else can,
Or how you're the most loving person I know,
Or how vivid and lively your writing is,
Or how-


... That's gushy, I know.
I'm not very good at this.
I've never felt like this before.
Sure, I've stood longingly in others' shadows,
Feeling some kind of connection -
A string of fate.
I couldn't ever quite figure out though
If that string was tied to my heart or my prefrontal cortex.

But this is different:
It's not the same,
Not the same.
While it's hard to admit sometimes,
I think I kind of like it.