*as with my other writing that pertains to aromanticism/asexuality, this prose/poem is meant to highlight the horrible impacts of amatonormativity rather than ridicule the orientations.
one day a girl with a tangerine for a bright smile and infatuated planets for eyes sat next to me, a snow white dove fluttering between the freckles on her fingers. a feeling of utter confidence and resolution danced against her cherry cheeks as she let the dove slip between her hands and watched it loop through the enflamed cerulean august sky.
"there. that's what romance makes you feel like. free. alive. at peace with all that is and all that is to be. watch how it sways in the wind! don't you agree? it's beautiful," she insisted.
eager to give me a taste of bliss, she slipped another dove into my clammy, nervous palms.
"set it free. set it free and let yourself soak in the beauty that is love!"
no matter how hard i tried to nudge the bird from my hands, it would not dare leave its haven. even as i shoved it, played tricks on it, bribed it with rewards, it lay in my hands like a piece of lifeless wood. behind me, i could hear the girl sneering. i envisioned flames spewing from her accusatory pointing fingers and tar trickling from her mouth.
"aww, you can't do it! look at you! poor baby. someone needs to get you a man to fix that pitiful gaze of yours."
as she continued to laugh, thick tears pooled into my eyes. curling into an unbloomed flower, i cursed the world for its conformity and slowly learned to hide the angles of my heart from those who worshipped the social mold.
-alternatively titled: YOU promised me paradise but I robbed myself of the key
1/13/21
