Young Innocent Love

 "15" - Jennelle Wressell

Young innocent love
Rushing new as seasons change
Don't ever let go

The love capable of a teenager is a deeply passionate kind of love. Not so much a lustful passion, but instead an enchanting infatuation. It can be hypnotic, so for a moment they feel they are invincible. I’d like to think my poem touches on that kind of love.

I shaped this poem from a thought I had after reading “Love Poem” by Linda Pastan. It felt like a brief story of how the world can rush by when we are young and deep in love. And how all we can or want to do is stay close with one another. But as I said earlier this ecstasy felt between two beings can alter the way they see world around them.

"when we stand
on its dangerous
banks and watch it carry
with it every twig
every dry leaf and branch”
(5-9;441)

Rushing and racing by so even in those most devoted moments of love they must still be weary of what surrounds them.

"that even as we watch
we must grab
each other
and step back"
(15-18;441)
 True love can happen at any age, but the details of an adolescent love feel far more fantastical. Going beyond one's puppy love.