6/3/12

Dangerous
By Linda M. Crate


you’re not always easy to love
you linger when you shouldn’t,
and your words spill over the cup
in dizzying red wine stains; you’re
a strain of ebola threatening to
rip through my vital organs and
leave me to cough up my own blood —
and yet for whatever reason you
don’t destroy me, you watch me as
I scuttle up the edge of tomorrow’s
horizon; you dangle just enough bit of
hope on a string before my eyes, as if
this is my only respite from the world —
as if your redemption is the only one
that can satisfy the yearnings of my soul,
and when your lips meet mine I know
it’s true; you’re dangerous but I love you,
and I’ll remain here even if I shouldn’t.


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Linda Crate is a Pennsylvanian native born in Pittsburgh yet raised in the rural town of Conneautville. She has a Bachelor's in English-Literature from Edinboro University. Her poetry and short stories have been published in several magazines.