{"id":301,"date":"2022-11-13T23:06:52","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T23:06:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.illinoisstate.edu\/euphemism\/18-1\/?page_id=301"},"modified":"2022-11-13T23:06:52","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T23:06:52","slug":"im-not-ive-never","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/poetry\/im-not-ive-never\/","title":{"rendered":"I’m Not \/ I’ve Never"},"content":{"rendered":"

Emmalynne Shumard <\/span><\/h3>\n

I don’t think you understand<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never been in love<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know what it is<\/p>\n

to hold a hand<\/p>\n

or receive a kiss on the cheek<\/p>\n

or curl my fingers through your hair<\/p>\n

(but I want to)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Leaning against you feels bold<\/p>\n

(feels brave)<\/p>\n

Your arm around my shoulder<\/p>\n

is a daring movement<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You say kind things<\/p>\n

and it baffles me,<\/p>\n

say I\u2019m wonderful<\/p>\n

and unique<\/p>\n

and pretty<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I know all these things,<\/p>\n

but how you do<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll never understand<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where did you learn<\/p>\n

to laugh at my jokes?<\/p>\n

How did you guess<\/p>\n

my favorite color?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

We are strangers<\/p>\n

and you act like<\/p>\n

there is more<\/p>\n

between us<\/p>\n

(will be more)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I can\u2019t imagine kissing you<\/p>\n

(I imagine kissing you)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

All I am<\/p>\n

is a riot of confusion,<\/p>\n

a confession<\/p>\n

of an innocent mistake<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cLove me,\u201d you say,<\/p>\n

with every reaching hand<\/p>\n

and soft word,<\/p>\n

and I grieve over the promises<\/p>\n

you want to make<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let me<\/p>\n

practice affection on you<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t let me<\/p>\n

sing to your song in the car<\/p>\n

or smile with your friends<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t tell me<\/p>\n

I mean something<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

You looked out<\/p>\n

and wanted someone<\/p>\n

and picked me on a whim,<\/p>\n

I know it<\/p>\n

(I know it)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m ready<\/p>\n

to return in kind<\/p>\n

(be kind)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think you understand<\/p>\n

(I\u2019ve never been in love)<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not in love with you<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Emmalynne Shumard I don’t think you understand I\u2019ve never been in love   I don\u2019t know what it is to hold a hand or receive a kiss on the cheek or curl my fingers through your hair (but I want to)   Leaning against you feels bold (feels brave) Your arm around my shoulder is a daring movement   You say kind things and it baffles me, say I\u2019m wonderful and unique and pretty   I know all these things, but how you do I\u2019ll never understand   Where did you learn to laugh at my jokes? How did you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":0,"parent":32,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-301","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/64"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":311,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/301\/revisions\/311"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/32"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/18-1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}