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Writer's pictureCreative Writing Committee

Chicken Wings by Britney Nguyen- Valentines Writing Competition 2nd Place 2024

How do you know you’ve fallen in love?


It’s so subtle at first—

Undetectable, almost unnoticeable. 

It sneaks up on you;

It grabs and gags you;

It suffocates you til you’re wishing for it to stop. 


Love trips you. 

Love gives you false promises,

And tells you all the right things. 


You fall. 

When you think you’re flying,

You fall. 

Falling and falling;

Hoping and waiting and seeing

If Love will catch you. 


And sometimes it doesn’t. 

Sometimes you hit the ground,

Wondering what happened?

What went wrong?

If you could have done something different,

Made your words flow better,

Give up more of yourself,

Change something—anything—everything

To stop Love from leaving. 


But baby, I’m here to tell you 

That Love will come back. 

Only this time, it will look different from when you last saw it,

With different eyes, a different smell;

Love will feel different, hug different—

Be different. 


This Love won’t beat you down. 

It won’t choke out your light. 

This Love made you wings fit for an angel,

So when it finally trips you,

You won’t fall,

You fly. 


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