“I Do Not Concede The Heart” – A Scribes Valentine Special
This Valentine’s Day, the Scribes are proud to present a collection of poems that speak to the theme I Do Not Concede The Heart. Our prompt was inspired by the closing line of the inaugural poem “Relinquish” by Dandelion Scribes editor Cari Lynne King.
We asked poets near & far to interpret this prompt in their own way, resulting in a selection of poetry that highlights love, loss, hope, strength, growth, grief, belonging, acceptance, and perseverance. Whether centering romantic love, love between family members, or love as it pertains to matters of faith – these poems capture the honesty and authenticity of the poet’s heart, responding to the complexities of love as it takes shape in many forms.
Keep reading to enjoy a beautiful selection of Valentine poetry, featuring the following poets:
Cari Lynne King
Cheyanne Leonardo
Carson Elliot
Frances Denise
Blair Correll
Stephanie Duncan
Morgan Long
Brandon Thorpe
Jessica Zarrillo
Amber Sparks
Rylan Duncan
Arianna Slaven
Angelia Ross
Amethyst Drake
Olivia Gilreath
Chris Boyatt
Mantis Osiris
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
I DO NOT CONCEDE
THE HEART
RELINQUISH
Good afternoon. Thank you.
So I love you and
I love you
Let me say my heart
is full of you
The outcome
is not what we fought for
But I will always burn,
my beloved
I am proud of the way
we have love
and joy in us
When we lose –
we accept
At the same time –
I do not concede
the heart
–Cari Lynne King
⚘
MEMORY
i am the last to leave the train
lost in thought i held your name
higher
than reality
made a mantel
in my memory
and filled it up with artifacts –
apostolic amulets –
the little barn, the amethyst
absinthe and
your secret kiss –
moved my mouth to whisper it –
a prayer
too precious
to ever be relinquished.
what if i told you the past was a prophecy?
that – somehow – remembering
is foretelling
is enshrining is reviving is
memorizing –?
i didn’t know i dreamt, divining
all that fate would find
u n f o l d i n g –
down the road you drove
and i did nothing
but study your face
follow the bridge of your nose
and number your eyes among the stars.
love was never nearer than
the times it traveled
far.
–Cheyanne Leonardo, from The Book of Abstractions
⚘
SPACE AVAILABLE
You ask me about the meal and I say I am full—
meaning there is a street in Chicago
that we have blessed with our laughter;
arms open, hearts stumbling forward
in their incandescent joy.
You ask me and I say that there is always room
for more, always space available at this table
in the sun. I have eaten my fill but still the heart
lingers in the moments between our hands
outstretched in their blessings. How can I capture
this fullness? The space where the sky
meets the water meets the cones of your eyes
gazing beyond a horizon I could not have imagined
until now. Until this moment: boundless in its ability
to hold these memories together; stitch by gentle
stitch. Tomorrow, I will return to the foothills
of a mountain that will never know my name—
but today, my mouth will hold the tender body
of this precious light.
–Carson Elliot
⚘
I do not need to be impressed
Yet you impress me
I lost the need to be surprised
Yet you surprise me
I declared my invisibility
Yet
You saw me.
I convinced myself
So well
That I do not need to be loved
Until
You loved me.
I look up and somehow find myself
In a story
In which the love is so
Immense
It swallows me whole and drowns me
Floats me, catches me
Humbles me
Rains on me, quenches my thirst
Yet I am always left
Wanting more
You hold my hand
And all the walls I ever built
Fall away
I am helpless
Touched by softness
Every door you unlock
For yourself also frees me
I spend time comforting
The past version of me who wanted to run
And close her eyes
While I pray to extend our existence
Because things look different now
With these eyes
And this heart settling into home
A return to your arms
And to my own
We arrived
I trust, let myself be held
And I welcome the endless horizon
–Frances Denise
⚘
FLOWERS AND BEES AND HONEY LOVE
There have been no boys
Falling over themselves for me
There have been no men
Who bite my lips hungry for me
No one stops and stares
When I walk by
No one pulls back the chair
When I come to dine
But I don’t flutter my lashes
I don’t stuff myself into spandex
You won’t find me laughing at unfunny jokes
Or texting until 2 am with some guy I met online
I just cannot
It all feels so cold and clammy
Doing what I’m supposed to do
Rather than what I would like to do
I want to crawl into love
Or let is smack me over the head
What I won’t do
Is treat love like a test
I want organic whole food love
Pick it up right out of the dirt love
All I have ever seen of them
All I have ever felt for them
Has been sealed in bubble wrap love
Break it and buy it love
Won’t you let me share all of my
Flowers and bees and honey love
–Blair Correll
⚘
EVENTUALLY
Love—or something like it—
took her over the ocean once.
Can you believe that?
It was literature the way it
wrapped itself up, shaped
like a heart—she wanted to
find it.
Love—or something—took
her to the banks of a hidden
river with no fish in sight
beside a man who couldn't
see and a line that wouldn't
pull.
Love—or—took her to a
squash field. Can you believe
that? He left over dead deer.
She left her shoes on the
back porch and never turned
around.
Love brought her to an altar. A
man she didn't expect. A promise
so pure that when he asked her,
she laughed. Happiness bubbled out
and it just made sense.
Can you believe that?
–Stephanie Duncan
⚘
WAKE UP
I like the love
That is there when I wake up
I’m afraid of riches
I’m afraid of deserts
My family won’t walk away from me
They’ve loved me since I woke up to the world
They love me still when I die to the world
When my head makes a home in the sand
When my heart’s dances end
But should I ever take that step
I know how it will be
I can’t turn my valves off
They run forever free
I will be arms outstretched
I will be heart pounding and wild breath
For whoever will dare
To claim me
–Blair Correll
⚘
THIS MUCH
This is how much I love you;
arms open as wide as a forever sky.
You tell me you can feel the earth
beneath your feet spinning
& I promise to someday believe you.
There is such small wisdom here,
& I am so impatient in your growing,
yet even the worm is a wonder,
even the eagle is a miracle—
we greet the wood sorrel with
its sour violet heart & I marvel
how even the earth can shape
itself into another word for love.
Love is a curious thing; it burbles
all springwater mouth & cherry blossom
gasp & I try to hold on to the moments
that you will never remember.
I tether myself to your joy that echoes
the great hills & mountains
rolling green into the promise of spring.
–Carson Elliot
⚘
Getting through this winter has felt like a perpetual full moon, and panic when it seems dawn may never break. Bare toes by an open fire, and a dance party for one in my kitchen on a good night. Or a good morning. Even on some of the bad ones.
This winter has been full of shared meals from neighbors and friends, lots of failed sourdough because I don't really keep the house that warm.
It's been a season of surrendering – but to what I'm not exactly sure. It's felt empty and cold and quiet and somehow bursting at the seams with big warm hugs when friends drop in and check in and just come sit.
Our love language is, “did you make it home safe?" And, there's black IPA on tap, finally. Animals tucked into every curve my body makes when I lay my head down to sleep.
It's been a thanks, but no thanks, generally.
A one-two punch,
Rejection.
Like I'm in the darkest room, running my hands along the wall just trying to find the light switch.
–Morgan Long
⚘
HUNGER IS AN EMOTION TOO
There’s something fundamental about
preparing food for others.
A universality of feelings felt under hunger.
Cooking is a craft you cannot live without.
Everything we are was built with meals.
Isolated by time, we still share with
our ancestors moments of the day where
we stand over a heated surface to see
what we can make, with different
meats and plants.
Checking along the way
if everything tastes okay.
With the gentle hope our loved ones will
like it.
The face of a kid
presses through the gap
between your ribs and elbow,
one hand propped on the hip and the other
swirling in the violent rolling steam, stirring
against the heat. And they hurry you along,
ready to eat.
The act of eating lights our brains with
the classic sensation of
want
transitioning into
satisfaction
The mind fires with an innocent gratitude
usually reserved for dogs and babies.
On significant days there’s an impulse
to stand over the fire
longer.
To cook slowly.
An occasion that could be good or bad,
for celebration or comfort.
When the time comes you tell them it’s done
you slip into a deep ease among
casual compliments about the cooking.
An old primitive mood, a
feeling akin to victory
felt WAY down deep
in the bones. A reptilian nerve
plucked fiercely
that tells you everything is okay, and the
people you love have what they need
to make it through another night.
–Brandon Thorpe
⚘
OLD MARRIAGE
He just wanted a tomato
sandwich and an ironed
shirt. So she worked in
cold, air-conditioned rooms.
Her watch glinting as
she sliced, spilling scriptures
out of her mouth, running
down the sink. Couldn't
reach him.
Radio filled the carpeted
rooms, his ankles propped,
never dancing.
Routine rigid and ticking
as minutes fenced in
her life. Only a new perfume
added spice, but he sneezed
and hated it.
His heart like dried up Play-Doh,
with no room for play.
–Stephanie Duncan
⚘
THE FEELING IS MUTUAL
‘I feel dead with you' I realize all of the sudden
the same way a speeding train realizes the
horizon. It’s the day before Valentine’s Day,
which is also your birthday, and I don’t need
to share this epiphany aloud because the feeling
is mutual. I’ve always needed reviving.
I was lying to myself about you making me
a better me, but I was honest about the way
you miraculously hold me together and
hold me back.
–Jessica Zarrillo
⚘
YOU CAN’T MAKE SOMEONE LOVE YOU
It’s not as straightforward as seen on TV.
Your Mother showed you romantic movies from
the nineteen 80’s that made it seem
like it’s just the choices you make.
As if you could make someone love you
by saying the right thing, that
the similarities in taste and memories
you share will be all you need to get
you there.
There has to be fuel to eat, or friction
to create that kind of heat.
Their brain has to light up in a sequence
just right, because the chemicals in their
heads have already decided, the chemical
reactions that keep our species alive,
you can’t get around that by being a
“good guy.”
You can hold a flame to water as long
as you like, but it will vaporize
and drift away
before it ever lights.
–Brandon Thorpe
⚘
It was a sacrilegious sacrifice
the way your versa became my vice.
I took communion from the danger
dripping from from your lips,
sipping Jack Daniels on ice.
I sought salvation in the exhalation
of cigarette smoke that had waited
twenty years to dance across
the silver tongue
that spelled out confessions
between my thighs.
I’d hit my knees in repentance
pay any penance
no matter the price,
for another Sunday serviced
exhaustively in your sheets,
witnessing Heaven set ablaze
by the wildfire in your eyes.
–Amber Sparks
⚘
ARCTIC LONGSLEEP
She keeps it hidden, her cigarettes –
blows smoke through a vent
rubs flower petals on her lips
to cover up the scent.
Under the blight of inherited reins
maintains a type of dignity
displayed like antiques, laid out
in photo albums
in chiffon and sheep’s leather
on sewing desks
she swoons during songs, clasping
the band of silk holding up her hips
and the toothpick smile that makes
men kick like horses and melts the
glass in their chest
she claims it’s for the family,
but she does it for herself,
not friends, not kids
not anybody else.
–Brandon Thorpe
⚘
In my wild innocence
I thought I could take on the world
I thought perhaps I could change it in some grand, marked way
Make it better, more loving
More peaceful
I wanted peace most of all
But had no idea how to find it
How to achieve it
And then came the days when everything crumbled
When the pieces I so carefully placed on the shelf fell down
What I most feared happened
I lost control
I fell apart
Not once or twice,
But many, many times
Various spectrums of claimed identities
Squeezed, challenged, destroyed
Liberated
I tried to grasp them, to hold on
Like when you desperately search for a rail or a hand to help you rebalance
Wanting so much to stand strong again, feet firmly on the ground
But these old stories you were never meant to keep
They were to teach you how to trust
That you are still someone, somebody
That you matter
Even when you are falling, drowning
Even when you are floating, fleeing
They were to teach you that there is grace
That love exists for every part of you that is aching to be found
And so here I am
Rising every day in humility
From all I’ve experienced
I saw that though I’ve felt broken
I am whole
I discovered that if it’s peace I wanted to see out there
I had to first find peace within myself
To end all the wars in my mind
The conflicts in my heart
To listen to every nook and cranny that presents itself
Meeting them with kindness
Compassion
To see beauty in every piece, no matter how painful
No matter how ugly
And that is how everything shifted within me
That is how everything shifted without me
Different realities swirling above my head
Inviting to be experienced
I can change the world after all
Make it better, more loving
More peaceful
Just not in the grand old way I first imagined
But in quiet, humble ways
Expanding my capacity for love in every glowing and unglamorous opportunity
And letting that ripple out
No more running
No more doubting
Instead, allowing and accepting
Simply sitting in the peace of being found
–Frances Denise
⚘
LOVE IN 30’s
I wanted to be a slow, country
sit for you. The kind where you
couldn't say goodbye and I
followed you out to the car,
laughter in my mouth.
Forget DoorDash and Facebook
and InstaCart, I wanted to be
your Plus with no rush, no
hurry. A lean in to get a closer
look, a lean back to exhale.
Hello.
In my pocket, there are rocks our
son handed me while we walked.
They were plain, but he called them
“beautiful." He wouldn't let
them go, so I hold them while you hold
my hand—for years—
and now there's them.
A boy and his sister ahead—
ours. I wanted to be and so I
was and am, still trying and now
that dream has multiplied.
–Stephanie Duncan
⚘
WHAT LOVE IS
Love is a warm smile on my
mother's face. Love is God's grace.
Love is a stream that always flows,
it goes and goes, it never stops.
Love is for each other. My father,
my brother, and my mother.
Love is awesome!
–Rylan Duncan
⚘
MY ONE AND ONLY
forever in my heart you will be
forever in my heart you will stay
forever me and you alike as one
soulmates that will never be undone
we are two heartbeats that beat as one
these are just words that cannot fully be expressed
but with this i say, i love you my one and only.
–Arianna Slaven
⚘
HAZEL-EYED SOULMATE
All my life I had refused
To concede my heart to love,
Until the night of Aunt Tilly's
Masquerade ball.
My friend and I were perched
On a bench with a glass
Of cola in our hand.
She was chattering in my ear
While I watched the dancers waltz
Around the huge ballroom
That Aunt Tilly had lavishly
Decorated with flowers from her garden,
When I discovered the most
Beautiful hazel eyes watching me.
Suddenly, my heart fluttered like
The wings of a butterfly,
Newly released from its cocoon.
And in the next moment,
Aunt Tilly was introducing us.
He asked me to dance
And we joined the waltzers.
By the time the night ended,
I knew my heart belonged to him,
And Aunt Tilly was beaming,
For she knew she had once again
Worked her matchmaking magic.
After a year of courtship,
I married that hazel-eyed handsome man.
For I knew in my heart
He was my soulmate.
Oh, he was so good to me,
Treating me as if I were a queen,
And I cherished him so,
But fate dealt us a terrible blow,
Imploding our ten-year fairytale
In the blink of an eye.
It happened on a cool summer night.
We were on our way home
From Aunt Tilly's,
And had just stopped at traffic light five
When suddenly an SUV barreled
Out of nowhere and hit us head on.
That night my soulmate died in my arms,
And my soul shattered.
That was thirty years ago.
And my friends, along with Aunt Tilly,
Have tried to be my matchmakers,
But their efforts have been in vain
Because I refuse to concede
My heart to love.
Why should I?
He was the love of my life – my soulmate.
So no, I will not concede my heart
To love, ever again.
–Angelia Ross
⚘
YESTERDAY
In dreams of Lothlorian I pine for the time
When yesterday promised today.
Out there in the harbor an angel abides
To hold me and make it okay.
But here on my island in a castle of sand
where Morpheus rocks me to sleep
And buried the promising, pivotal plans
Which wither and die in the deep.
She’s walking on water through the storm in my mind
Commanding the tumult to stay.
In dreams of Lothlorian we made it this time
For yesterday promised today.
–Amethyst Drake
⚘
UNYIELDING LOVE
I do not concede the heart,
For love is not a game,
It's more than fleeting whispers,
Or a spark that has no name.
It's found in quiet moments,
In the strength of gentle hands,
In the way our laughter mingles,
And our souls both understand.
I do not yield to fleeting whims,
Or let my passion part,
For in your eyes, I've found my home,
I do not concede the heart.
Through trials and triumphs,
Through joy and despair,
Our love remains unshaken,
A bond beyond compare.
So on this Valentine's, my dear,
Know this truth from the start,
I give you my everything,
But I do not concede the heart.
–Olivia Gilreath
⚘
REEM
her name means gazelle in arabic
or ‘white deer’ — like the lenape legend
that the land will return
to its real and rightful guardians,
leading the earth
into new dawn.
her name means gazelle in arabic:
i looked it up because i needed
a way in, to see freedom and sovereignty
stolen and replaced by quiet,
stoic strength and
never-ending grace.
her name means gazelle in arabic
and in hebrew hearkens
to the horned gods — the first
and final — the renewal
of that sacred crescent
rising in the night
after new moon.
–Cheyanne Leonardo
*You can help Reem Zidiah & her family recover from the conflict in Gaza by donating to her GoFundMe campaign. In exchange for your donation of any amount, you are entitled to a complimentary copy of The Book of Abstractions by Cheyanne Leonardo. Click here to donate to Reem, then click here to contact the Scribes and claim your book.
⚘
I will not concede the heart
to the demons who hold their
hands around my neck
trying to keep me in the
black hole of darkness.
I will not concede the heart
to the demons trying to suffocate
the breath out of me.
Through the storm that is raging
and though I contend with the faith,
with tears in my eyes
I will hold my head up
and look to the
Light of Goodness,
the one who gives life.
He will sustain me.
I will lift up my voice
in a whisper,
only one word –
HELP.
I will choose to live.
I will fight.
Even while I am weary
I will not concede the heart
in this battle.
–Chris Boyatt
⚘
SALAH
salah whose name means prayer
makes his way home to the north
where he knows he will find nothing
untouched by destruction,
nothing the same as it was before war
reduced his world to rubble –
before evil
became so emboldened by ignorance
that he had to watch his countrymen
bleed in the name of murderous greed,
had to see
his friends fall as martyrs
while all the others
hunted him like the sacrificial lamb
of empire.
yet salah whose name means faith
sets his sights on something higher
for he knows he is right to return,
to restore
all that evil tried to burn
to rebuild
beauty from memory
to seed again the garden
out of pure devotion
to the picture of perfection
his own heart has made real –
for salah whose name means goodness
embodies the white light of righteousness
and once upon a time he carried that spirit
through the halls of university
where he studied fervently,
held tight to his dream
of teaching technology, living
in service to society – resting
always in remembrance of simplicity,
happy
just to taste the maqlouba,
take a walk, admire the city,
and perhaps, if he was lucky,
reach down and pet the head
of a friendly stray cat.
now he is forced to face the fact
that every scrap
of the familiar
is forever
gone.
but salah whose name means peace
will make his way through those old streets –
the place where he belongs –
stand proud and tall
as voices rise
and sing
a heavenly
song.
–Cheyanne Leonardo
*You can help Salah Ostaz & his family build a brighter future in Gaza by donating to his GoFundMe campaign. In exchange for your donation of any amount, you are entitled to a complimentary copy of The Book of Abstractions by Cheyanne Leonardo. Click here to donate to Salah, then click here to contact the Scribes and claim your book.
⚘
LIGHT AS A FEATHER
Lyrics:
She said take me out on the town
Anywhere, pull up the address
If you dare, oh yeah oh yeah
Cheer up, boy
She’s here to let me shine when I’m down
‘Cause now I’m sad all of my days
But here are my rays
Take em down and pass em around
Well take me out
Oh I’m trying hard to know you
better tell em I said
we’ll see when I’m dead
In fact we might tell em together
Well help me out
Oh I’m headed for the underworld
But gimme a shake
And maybe it’ll make my heart
As light as a feather
Take me out
Oh I’m trying hard to know you better
Tell em I said we’ll see when I’m dead
In fact we might say it’s the weather
Well heal me now
Oh I’m headed for the afterworld
But gimme a shake
And maybe you’ll make my heart
As light as a feather
–Mantis Osiris
𖤣.𖥧.𖡼.⚘
Don’t forget about LOVE ECHOES
coming to the Rebecca Johnson Theatre stage
TONIGHT, 2/14/25!
ONE NIGHT ONLY!
Join the Dandelion Scribes
and local musical artists
for an unforgettable Valentine show!
Featuring spoken word poetry, music,
tap dancing, & a sound bath!
Come celebrate the SOUND OF LOVE!
Showtime 7:00 pm.
1331 Rugby Pkwy, Rugby, TN 37733
$15 at the door, bring cash!
The Rebecca Johnson Theatre is located
inside Historic Rugby’s Visitor Center.
With endless love & gratitude,
