Poetic License: Bruises

While it is not the typical “manly” thing to be into, I always had an appreciation for love stories. I like to believe I get it from my father since I always caught him enjoying the romantic comedies my mom had him watch with her. Bruises by Christopher Malec is a poem with the central image of how love can quickly turn into something unhealthy when rushed. The poem starts with how the order of things is a bit backward, with the couple having “dessert” (Malec 2021) before everything else. It seems that dessert is a metaphor for fast sexual experiences in the relationship before building trust.

The poem gains a somber downward spiral of a love story type of aesthetic very quickly. Comparing the bruises gained from a needle to how it felt when their hope was misled once again. “Because hope has become a needle …
and I’m tired of its bruise” (Maclec 2021). The narrator has let it be known that they have spent so much time in this relationship thanks to hoping, but that “hope” has felt more like a drug that would eventually lead to her overdose. The narrator then brings up how bad hope has affected her in previous relationships but in similes. Just like her mother who would be in and out of her life, or her friends that only occasionally checked on her.

This poem is not just about how addictive hope in a romantic relationship can be, but how damaging false hope can be in any of your relationships. If you are going to give someone a piece of hope, make sure you can give out the rest of those pieces soon.

The Poem: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/155243/bruises-5ff7b464a6237