one of my current favourite poems

Love poems written by men for men do some of the most important work on the planet - create space where men are allowed to feel and express emotions other than aggression or competition. Any queer love poem is already a political poem, but the one below makes all my poetry antennae happy - political, aesthetic, emotional, rhythmic, lingual

from a real love poem by travis montez, Bullets and Butterflies

love poems / do not happen / accidentally / they cannot be cut nor pasted / not sampled, looped, / nor taken out of context / they are specific and unique / like fingerprints / and first kisses / love poems are real / and imperfect / they happen when you are not looking / when you think no one is watching / love poems are lived / then written / on subway rides home from first dates / or while your clothes still smell like him / or at work when you can’t concentrate / even though your project is an hour late / you can’t do anything until you have to find / the right combination of words and self / to describe an orgasm / that felt like sunshine and church and etta james and / a reason to record life / love poems /
do not happen accidentally / they are real and imperfect / and unconditional

I gave him my words / to keep / among his precious things / he wears them now / like diamonds / and quotes them like scripture / I am all the poet he will ever need

wounded in the house of a friend / I have nothing left to plant / or feed you / keep these words / among your precious things / let them be real and imperfect lived / after bridges are burned and the lonely comes / let it be all the poem you will ever need