a tutorial on how to make excuses when your lover is a shark
call him a survivor
all the blood you see on the
surface of the water should be his
close your eyes and have faith
whenever you part your lips to taste his mouth
choose not to see the thousand white things
that are sharp and sometimes bite
choose to define love as
a tease
a dare
and a bluff
hold his fin firmly and listen to your heart
it is because you are nervous
that is why he is slipping away
hold him close
you can’t lose this one
because the world does not
tolerate single sisters and society says
you are not enough anymore
and time is your esteem draining away
never let go when he drags you underwater
you have trusted him this far
he can’t be trying to drown you
and maybe you can breathe
they say women can adapt
in a sea of everything wrong
because love is blindly right
and death is a myth here and
bad boys love better
if anyone shouts and says you should be careful
that no woman should love a shark
that sharks are men with fragile egos,
tell them you know him
and even though on some days
he loses his temper and uses words and fist
to express his rage,
he always apologises for breaking you
and puts you together with gifts
so when you fall deeper in water with him,
learn to understand a man with privilege
and if those bitter feminists talk,
tell them it is your life and
you have chosen to live it
at the bottom of a raging sea
when you kiss him
always remember to never forget
that it is till death do you part
even when you see pieces of women
and bones of girls lying on the seabed,
it means nothing
tell the rising fear in your chest that
no man eats a woman
they just dissolve in his mouth
and become an excuse
for his righteous anger
