Edwin Bodney - When a Boy Tells You He Loves You

Edwin Bodney, performing at Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles, CA.

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[youjerkmuffin]

"he is just a boy, remember?  just another silly, sad boy, remember?"  fuck, dude.

[Iluvmycowcow]

I like the poem of course, but can we talk about how soothing his voice is? His passion doesn't need raised raucous shouting, his throat delivers calm, assured denial, and I think my blood pressure dropped having heard this.

[MACJunkie]

"When a boy says i love you, he means i am getting ready to be inconsistent with you now"

[melfromhell]

i once had a boy tell me he loves me. now, he is a man who loves me still. i wish more people could experience love as it should be, and i wish less people were so scared of it.

[christophergabbrants]

My interpretation: Love is in actions not words.

[hellhasnobasement]

I absolutely adore this.. I couldn't find a transcript for it so I wrote it out myself..

"When a boy tells you he loves you, it’ll be the first time you hear this.
It is late and he isn't even there to tell you this in person but instead from a car ride home from a bar in Chicago; he is there on business. 
And of course you will smile, because he sounds like he means it, because you believe him.
 Because a boy has never handed those words to you like crushed blackberries in the palms of his hands firm, young, full, waiting to taste sweet with you. 
His arms; creeping vines begging to touch the sun in your face saying “here, take everything I have ever touched to be closer to you”.
His breath waiting to be folded into a love note passed in between the nape of your neck and his front teeth.
 He will remember the time you told him you felt safe in his mouth, and he will never grow hungry… just distant.
When a boy tells you he loves you, you will hear music, the voice of your past lovers dancing up your throat; your stomach an after-hours cabaret still waiting on the last call. 
That was when you learned that when a boy says I love you he means I am getting ready to be inconsistent with you now.
This boy will tell you that he loves you, not long after he had you waiting for two hours in front of a cocktail lounge. 
Patience is something you were working on but no, not for him. 
When asked, you to tell him that you love him back; you will be in the car in the parking lot of a late night diner you will watch the words fall into your lap like a spilled glass of white wine. 
You remember the day your core, your pigeon heart got lost in the wind because that was a message it did not know how or where to carry and one by one the boys have fallen as silently as the birds do. 
So eloquently they used to speak until I asked the questions that broke them into ghosts that bled me into a corpse with so many questions of my own for the soil but their tongues do not know simple; the things I should be hearing, the things that what make us living men in this time of insatiable yet dying lovers.
When a boy tells you he loves you only to become silent like a folded sheet of tissue paper not wanting you to decrease him into the truth, do not crack your face into the fullest crescent moon at the tapered bottom of a blackened sky, he never meant a single word of any of it. 
He is just a boy, remember? 
He is just another silly, sad boy, remember?"

[sierraEllifritt]

When a boy says he loves you. He means he'll make you feel loved one minute and then another he'll make you feel woorthless

[JosieOuiri]

"You will remember the day your courier pigeon heart got lost in the wind because that was a message you did not know how or where to carry. And one by one, the boys have fallen as silently as the birds do."

[Kylie-wgmg]

its hard because i can hear this poem and thousands of poems warning me. its not real. but it feels real, because i've known many silly boys but this boy is the one thats going to break my heart and i think the scary part is i want him to

[bookwormgirl]

his breath, waiting to be folded into a love note passed in between the nape of your neck and his front teeth

...how does he DO this

[cookiemonster-fwhr]

1:35 I like how he says "like a spilled glass of white wine" instead of red wine. With white wine it blends into your clothes and makes it look like a spot, difficult to see from afar. The same is with love, if you are blind enough you cannot see the blemish in your relationship - much less the blemish in the boy. Red wine is bold and vibrant. Love is not, you are often fooled.

[shyrleimartinez]

"he will never grow hungry, just distant" OH MY SOUL

[lemmon]

"And one by one the boys have fallen as silently as the birds do. So eloquently they used to speak until I asked the questions that broke them into ghosts."

[sohsaraaa]

The fact that it is a male saying it; instead of a female - makes every single word seem like bona fide.

[keyralites]

"Patience is something you're working on, but no, not for him." shit got real.

[audrijapal]

"He never meant a single word of any of it. He is just a boy, remember?"
This got me

[mekylaalvarado]

"When a boy tells you I love you he means I'm going to start being inconsistent now" hit me like a ton of bricks.

[MRRY]

"only to become silent like a folded piece of tissue paper, not wanting you to decrease him to the TRUTH" oooh wee wee!

[courtney]

"You will see the words spill in to your lap like a glass of white wine" - that was my favorite line

[happypandas]

His voice is beautiful and his delivery and metaphors are everything