Valentine

Not a red rose or a satin heart

I give you an onion.
It is a moon wrapped in brown paper.
It promises light
like the careful undressing of love.

Here.
It will blind you with tears
like a lover,
It will make your reflection
a wobbling photo of grief.

I am trying to be truthful.

Not a cute card or kissogram.

I give you an onion.
Its fierce kiss will stay on your lips,
possesive and faithful
as we are,
for as long as we are.

Take it.
Its platinum loops shrink to a wedding ring,
if you like.
Lethal.
Its scent will cling to your fingers,
cling to your knife.



understood that???well jo,mohit and I were cracking our heads trying to decipher this poem at the canteen just now..haha and we sure did have fun trying to come up with possible/logical explanations to those weird metaphors and similes used.honestly,Lit is challenging(for us that didnt take it in secondary school) but fun.yes,fun (:
here's one of my friend's interpretation of the last stanza..

"I intepreted it as the poet is trying to create a visual imagery of the onion ring shrinking into a size of a wedding ring.. That explicit and somewhat exaggerated visual seems to emphasise the poet's take on that love is sort of like an unpleasant bondage.."

profound eh?think about it readers..often we read aboute love being described/compared to a red rose/satin heart or any other pleasant/romantic object,symbolizing our fiery passion towards another being..but this poem takes a different bend.Here,love is like an onion that will blind us with tears,it will make your reflection a wobbling photo of grief.In short,love makes people cry.haha.Isn't that right? Things dont have to go all prefect and right always,sometimes when you've received somebody's love all you do is bawl your eyes out for that person and that person doesnt even know that she/he makes you cry to sleep at night.And yes,like how my friend interpreted it;the onion rings will shrink to become a platinum wedding ring fitted nicely onto your finger often reminding us of the vow that we've taken to be together forever and till death do us part..take note that this platinum ring is not easy to be broken and hence further emphasizing the bondage between the two people...
ah well I think this is enough poetry for tonight..wont want to be dreaming about onions tonight!!eww gross..anyway,interpreting this poem tonight has really opened a whole new sight concerning issues about 'love' to me..somehow i feel much wiser..haha cause now that i see the connection between 'love' and onions..??hahahahas!
nah..well there goes the saying "two sides to a coin" and I guess there's always a different argument about this whole thing.hehehehe,esp for all those hopeless romantic Romeos out there who thinks that love is forever like a bed of roses...haha are you one of them??