Love Is Made Up

romance is a dead,
shriveled rose
on february twenty-first,
drowned in a bowl of tepid,
stagnant tap water,
soon to be discarded
with the rest of the garbage.
love is made up
     -- tv love,
        movie love,
        trashy romance novel love --
love is patient;
love is kind;
it does not want
     candy or flowers or jewelry,
-- temporary mementos --
the glittering bobbles,
distracting and confusing
a pre-adolescent sentiment.
the trivializations are used as bait.
and year after year
millions bite the hook.