Content warning for descriptions of sexual violence
I'm told love comes in different
Sizes, different shapes, different
Words, and maybe different ways.
Like that night when you asked
Me to take a sip of brown fluid
That stung my tongue and
Numbed my throbbing brain.
And then we kissed, and you
Started inching my convexes and conclaves.
I'm sorry that I pushed you,
But I didn't want to be measured.
Stupid me, I forget, love comes
In different ways.
Love comes in desperate no
Love comes in persistent yes.
Love comes in different ways.
In some ways you grin,
In some ways you just
Don't participate.
But my resistance was resisted well.
Your strong hands started
Poking me, with nails stuffed
With dirt into my places
That from pale turned blue.
And soon the longest of your fingers
Peering out of your crotch
Poked me where it could not be blued,
And I screamed, and cried,
And you said, "Give it a try,
It's not a crime, you know?"
And there were reds and whites
And there were blues and blacks.
And then there was dark,
And then there was light.
I asked you, what it was?
And I flinched at how it was.
My lips swollen,
My waist bruised,
My breasts aching,
My withins bleeding.
And you said it was love,
And I shouted and disagreed,
And you threw your toothbrush at me,
And I ran to save my life,
And you dragged me back,
Saying, it was love.
I asked if love comes
Also in blue skins?
I asked if love comes
Also in red drops?
Sure, love comes in different ways.
Ridhi Chaturvedi is a twenty-two year old student, studying M. A. in English in Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, India. She is a theatre enthusiast and has worked in some of the stage productions. Apart from that she loves reading and writing poems and watching and critiquing films. She writes on various platforms with the pseudonym, ‘Recherche Ringlet’. Her poems have been published in several anthologies along with some e-books. She has been working on mental health awareness, particularly, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety, and PTSD because of abuse. You can find her on Instagram @rechercheringlet and on Facebook as Ridhi Chaturvedi, and contact her through e-mail at ridhichaturvedi1998@gmail.com.