If I could give everyone one piece of love advice, it would be; once you find the one
you've spent your whole lifetime searching for, don't give them up without a fight. Never let them just walk right out of
your life. Whatever you do, don't ever let them go. Hold onto them with all that you've got, because you have no guarentee
that they'll be back. So, don't make the same mistake I have made. Don't just watch them leave. It could be the last time
you ever see them. Don't look back on it and regret not saying the words you needed to say or doing the things you needed
to do. Because the feeling of regret will never leave you.
Have you ever been in love? Horrible, isn't it? I make you so vulnerable. It opens your chest, it
opens your heart and it means someone can get inside you and mess you up. You build up this whole armor, for years, so nothing
can hurt you. Then one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wanders into your stupid life. You give them
a piece of you. They don't ask for it. They do something dumb one day, like, kiss you or smile at you, and then, your life
isn't your own anymore. Love take hostages. It gets inside you. It eats you out and leaves you crying in the darkness, so
a simple phrase like "maybe we should just be friends" turn into a glass splinter working it's way into your heart. It hurts,
not in just the imagination, not just in the mind. It's a soul-hurt, a body-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart
pain. I hate love.
As I lay tired and naked in my tub, thinking of all you and
The shit that you put me through.
You will no longer have to push me around.
I have decided that these games must end.
I'm tired and don't want to play.
I take the razor and begin to slice.
I look down at the water and watch the swirls of redness.
I can no longer see my body, only a tub of blood.
I can no longer see anything, I know the time has come.
I laugh at all of you,
You will not have to destroy me,
I have done it for you.
Man, I hate this and I hate you. You say that 'hate' is such a strong word, but I think it's fitting.
Look at what you did to me; was it not supposed to hurt? I'm not superman, but if I was, you'd be my kryptonite. Why do I
let you do this to me? After all, I thought we were friends. Better enemies are we...because I will never trust you again.
But I'm no sure you care...after all, you have her now. What more do you need? Well, I'll tell you. You need
me, but guess what? I'll be gone when you realize it.
Why?
It all seems so different now looking back on a love that was ours.
Things we've done and words we've said, fading in my mind like a dream.
All the plans our friends had made of how we would and what we
would be.
But no one knew how fast we'd changed or even how far apart we
had been.
I know, I know, I know, why?
The games we played to be sure of love were never fair because
we played by your rules.
Like a fool, I played along, though I knew I was playing for real
and when I found out how to play, I realized it wasn't with you.
So, now you're gone and here I am, alone with nothing good left
to feel.
I know, I know, I know, why?
Where you are and who you're with, I guess it's not my concern.
But if you were here I'd take you back and never would I ever let
you go.
It's not so much what you took from me,
But what you left behind.
The memories of you and me, the thoughts and feelings that we never
got to know.
I know, I know, I know, why?
- Johnny Slagle c. 1982
Yesterday
No so long ago, I held you in my arms.
When I reached for you, it seemed that you were always there.
But now that times have changed, my life's so rearranged.
And all at once, it seems that you weren't here.
I wanted your love, I needed your love. But most of all, I needed you.
You always seemed to smile when your eyes met mine.
And everything just seemed to fade away.
Just you and me in time, it all seemed so right.
It's hard to think of it as yesterday.
- Johnny Slagle c. 1982
(just a note: I don't mind if you use these last two poems, but if you do please quote them and site
them from "johnny slagle" because my father wrote these. thanks.)
