Category Archives: Belonging

Romantic couple embracing, touching and kissing with passion on a ledge dressed up and in b/w

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “O” – Out They Go

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
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A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Out they go, a night to escape
Playing on the town
Like their lives, they
Depend on every second of this evening.
They laugh over dinner,
Drive with the stereo loud,
The moon roof open as they
Point at the stars
Like old times
Before he grabs her hand and takes her dancing,
Both of them close, giggling
Grinding
And intoxicated,
Running from the problem,
The catch in what they share,
Spinning around and around on the dance floor
With hands creeping along each other’s sides.
“I love you so much,” she says.
“And I love you, too.”
He means it, this she knows
And she will dance here with him
Pressed tight
Tighter
As close as they can be
For as long as it takes to forget
For now.

To read "P" — Perfect, click here.
B/w image of passionate couple making love in bed

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “N” – Need

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Need is filling her up—
The need to be with him, to go there,
To grasp this
In the way they both whisper about
But can’t quite reach;
Not as it is.
It stirs up a longing in her so heavy
She is anxious about the end, the complications
Whether it’s going to work.
He sees this and strokes her neck, cuddles her closer
Gently blows in her ear.
“Why are you such a pessimist?”
She's never been that, never in her life
And when she meets his eyes, he nods.
“You are. With us, you are.”
She doesn’t want to be,
She wants it to be everything
This love between them,
But she can't quite figure out how to fit the pieces of
This puzzle
Together.
When he distracts her with kisses trailed up the side of her neck
He says, “Do this with me. Be here with me.”
So she decides to listen, to feel him,
To get further lost in this forest
Despite its looming density.

To read "O" — Out They Go, click here.
Image in B/W of couple in embrace, man behind woman, grazing her back with their eyes closed

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “M” – Mapping Her Heart

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Mapping her heart
Is his skill, because he knows her through
Or so he claims.
Sometimes, he says he gets the depth of her love,
But she is reminded he can’t possibly know
How deep this well runs within her;
It’s been brewing, brimming,
Swirling up from its confinement
Far longer in her than he’s admitted the same to himself.
But she sees it in the simple things he does for her—
The way he cooks her dinner, brings her little gifts, helps her around her house
Or calls her for the tenth time on the same day,
Just to say hello.
It’s as if he doesn’t realize how much it means to her, to them
As if he doesn’t see how closely they’ve entwined themselves together
Despite the obviousness of it pumping their hearts full of rich, sweet joy.
One night, as he cooks, she says to him
“What do you think it would be like if we were normal?”
He stirs again; peeks at her
“What do you mean?”
“I mean if it were always. Every night. Not a day off, or a getaway.”
He ponders a moment, stirs,
Looks at her like he gets it and says,
“I think it would be the same. Don’t you?”
She thinks so
But she doesn't think he grasped what she truly meant—
And tonight she isn’t ready to explain it.

To read "N" — Need, click here.
Couple lounging in bed in underwear and lingerie grazing hands

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “L” – Lucky

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Lucky is how she feels with him
Whenever they banter, or even when they spat
Which is rare.
Seeing him breathes new life
Into what she thought this living thing was about,
What she'd convinced herself was the meaning of it all
“Can I tell you a secret?” she asks him
And as they lay there, she confesses that all this time
Before they knew
Before they shared
She’d been spinning tale after tale
Of what she thought it would be like,
What their love could taste like
Even though she probably wasn’t supposed to.
“I guess I could have known for a while,
If I’d just paid attention,” he says.
Yes, if he’d just paid attention
Like he does now, stroking her cheek,
Slipping up beside her again
And making her feel like the luckiest woman alive.

To read "M" — Mapping Her Heart, click here.
Photo of couple laying on sides kissing passionately

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “K” – Kisses

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Kisses, his kisses
Are her distraction throughout any day,
The sweetest addiction she craves when they are apart.
She imagines how he holds her when he gives them—
The fierce press of his lips,
The way his body is hot against hers
Always comforting, eternally strong.
And then there is the way they play their staring game sometimes,
In the deep kisses they share whenever they fuck;
He likes to dare her to look away—
His beautiful brown eyes seeking so far into her soul—
And it takes her a few rounds of this before she doesn't back away.
Now, she stares too, both of them smiling while
They fuck and kiss, never averting their eyes
I know you, I love you, I have you, always
Is the quiet song she hears behind these stares,
It is etched into their hearts, their very beings
And I see you.
This she knows—that he sees her,
Right down to the core of her,
And she never wants the kisses to stop.

To read "L" — Lucky, click here.
Silhouette of female and male hands together in the dark.

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “J” – Just Let Go

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

“Just let go.”
He says it over drinks, leaning close,
Both of them breathless at a conversation
Bearing so much possibility.
“Just do it, do this with me,
Don't worry so much, and feel this. Okay?”
She is, she is,
Feeling so much her heart could explode,
And her words spill from her lips like winded sighs
“I love you, I love you…”
And yet—
There's that part inside brewing,
Worrying about the future, worrying that their secret, sacred love
Is going to break,
Because their reality is a cruel, cruel thing.
But he slips his hand across the table,
Lacing his fingers with hers and flashing her that entrancing, magnificent smile
Below eyes she has silently melted into for years.
He says, “Be here, with me.”
And she is right there,
Grounded in him
All over again.

To read "K" — Kisses, click here.
Athletic man kissing and embracing beautiful woman in the shower

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “I” – I Miss You

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

I miss you, she writes him
Because the space has been too much,
But these words can't encompass
The depth of what she really means.
So when he comes to her, she kisses him,
Each kiss a taste to accompany her explanation.
“When I say ‘I miss you,’ I mean
I miss your voice, your laugh
Your eyes, heart, and love,
Your touch.” She whispers now,
Kissing his fingertips, then guiding them over her breast
With a smile.
“Your touch is irresistible,
Like your kisses...”
The words are lost when his mouth meets hers,
His hands parting the sides of her robe
Letting it slip away to the kitchen floor.
She wears barely anything for him,
Lacy things to be admired and discarded,
Which is how it happens, and what she likes.
His eyes rake over her as he says,
“I missed you too. And I love this,”
Before they begin their dance once more.

To read "J" — Just Let Go, click here.
Young couple embracing on a white background of a sunset

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “H” – Her Heart

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Her heart is alive
Full like it's never been before
And though she's known love many times
It's never been like this—
Rich and decadent, with a touch of bittersweet,
Warming her up until she's bursting with joy
Floating to see him, at the memories they're painting between them,
Lovelier than any images she's ever been part of before.
She catches herself singing in the laundry room and laughs—
She's been tattered and broken, rooted up from the earth and ruined,
Her heart ground up into little bits in the past—
And yet with him she is free to soar, free to love, protected, safe
And so fucking happy she glides through the days,
Celebrating this love, his love, and
How glorious it feels that they've come together
After all this yearning and wondering.
She can't picture a future without him in it,
And when she tells him this, he scoops her up, kisses her lips, and says
“Good, because I need you in my life, too.”

To read "I" — I Miss You, click here.
Beautiful sexy couple lying in bed with man teasing her lips

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “G” – Good

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

“God, its good, right?”
He is stroking her thigh,
His other arm arched up over their heads on the pillow
So he can tease the tangled strands of her hair.
She nestles into his neck, breathing him in—
She's loved his scent since she met him, years before—
“I think good is an understatement.”
He laughs, agrees;
“You know what, it's true. It's crazy, yeah?”
“It is. I might even give you top five!” she teases.
He is laughing, belly shaking, staring starry eyed at the ceiling above them,
A white wash as pure as their love
And a sharp contrast to the flicker of nervousness
That tries to station itself deep in her gut.
She snuggles closer to avert her eyes
And kisses the edge of his jaw
Because he's always been able to call her bluff.
She doesn't want to think about the future yet
Not yet
And besides, she'd rank him number one.
When he mutters something about needing a cigarette
And loving the way it feels with her
She tells him the obvious answer is that it can only be this good
Because it’s them.

To read "H" — Her Heart, click here.
Man and woman half clothed with woman smiling on top of man

A Love Affair, From A to Z: “F” – Fucking

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The following is the next segment of "A Love Affair, From A to Z."
To start at the beginning of the poem, click here.
A LOVE AFFAIR, FROM A TO Z
by
Jade A. Waters

Fucking
Is nearly their forte—second only to how well they talk—
But it was awkward at first; two friends who knew every secret, every tragedy
Being careful with one another for all the stories they'd heard along the way.
They bumbled until they had it right
And quickly it became a magic, glowing, exciting thing, with
Rounds that made them laugh.
They knock over chairs,
Break furniture,
Ruin clothes, and
Roll about with moans of pleasure
And peals of laughter so loud
She wonders if the neighbors will hear.
"Come on. Do you care?" he asks
"No, no I don't." She covers him in kisses,
Loving the way he holds onto her hips so tight,
Guiding her above him and smiling
Because he knows she's close, so close.
But he is, too. "Race you," he says,
She giggles before their breaths grow heavy and their lips meet,
Sweaty bodies clinging while
They lose themselves in the sweetest pleasure all over again.

To read "G" — Good, click here.