to love
is to keep
                          a part of someone
with you always.
the difference
                          in loving men
                          & women
is how
the feeling
                          is housed. men
                          are electricity,
desperation, power,
fish without water.
                          housing women
                          in your heart
is running
                          through the sun’s
rays, vast, soothing.
                          women are water
                          without fish,
what it feels like
                          to breathe
                          the ocean.
to love
is to liberate
                          both the lightning
                          & the light,
to forget
                          you ever knew
                          what it was like
to have the other kind,
what it was like
                          before this.

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Amanda Conover is a queer writer based in Raleigh, NC who frequently writes about ideas related to existentialism, spirituality, and the never-ending search for meaning in life. She is the poetry editor for Carolina Muse Literary and Arts Magazine and is an MFA student in Arcadia University’s low residency program. Her poetry has appeared in places such as the lickety~split, Miracle Monacle, Scapegoat Review, and The Chaffin Journal. Find her oversharing on Instagram @amandamconover.

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