Let Me Know It’s Real (a Poem from Love You Doesn’t Count: A Book of Poetry)

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Let Me Know It’s Real from Love You Doesn’t Count: A Book of Poetry scheduled to be released later in 2025. ©️2025 by Jermaine Reed, MFA

—

Try and not write love posts about me

or show pictures of me on your wall

Don’t tell everyone I’m a good man

or that I understand who you are

Keep the flowers I gave you

on the ledge of your bedroom window

But don’t make them a TikTok for friends

Simply water them with me in mind

I don’t want to be erased, removed,

deleted and forgotten about

or be a cropped out pic on your profile

My heart would break from disappearing

If we trade insults on the balcony

and vow to not ever speak again

Even if we mean not those words,

deleting my pics would seal the deal

Flowers fade away in a season

And chocolate melts away in your mouth

But a ring lasts a lifetime plus some

On a regular day, a normal time,

when you are least to expect it,

I will offer to you that ring

Let it be the first thing you post from me

Only then will I know it’s real

*This poem will only temporarily appear here but will remain available on the Short Stories and Poems by J. Reed section on this site.