Illustration by Léa Maupetit

Today I decided to play my favourite game.
It’s called Love.

And I don’t know if I play it with myself,
or with others.

Would you like to play this game?

This “game of love” mentioned above
Seems to say, portray
My heart, all the gambling it had enough of
We need men and women who play;
Not the strings of broken aortas and vena cavas
But conduct an orchestra on Broadway
Performed on a leapday,
A play about love so sacred it is a Sunday
Every day of the week, love is payday
It is a runway, roasted pumpkin purée
Young lovers who kiss on a railway
Coffee in a French cafe
It is enjoying rush hour traffic on the highway
It is a holiday, a matinee, a Milky Way
It is the world’s best screenplay
It is not a game, okay.

This is the most serious game
In the entire universe

In the entire human existence
Is the chaosmic experience
Is the discovering of the soul
Is the invention of history
Is the rupture of reality

All things must be included
Love can be found in everything
Its a desire of our hearts
Of our souls
Fire that maybe sets us free

What is love, but the infinite string
Of breath moving through and connecting
Every living being to all that has come before,
And all that is yet to be.

Love for those that experience it,
its anything but a game,
Love is heaven, love is painful,
either way love shapes us,

Either way.

Someone will come out damaged and unwillingly
They will go for it again. There’s no coming back.

It will hurt, you will be cheated.

When it’s all over you might tell yourself wasn’t it worth it?

Didn’t you enjoy love?

I don’t even know the guidelines or instructions
The game just makes it up as you play
Addicting and hurting, it’s what they say
It’s a game of choices, and it’s ever changing
It can go different paths and endings
But I’ll be sure to bring my armor and fill hope in a sack
‘Cause once you start playing, there’s no turning back

“Hey! I wanna join!” he said
“Are you a dreamer?!” I replied

Animation by Elen Tori

Should I play it fling, toy or true?
Either or, as long as we have two
Players who’s willing to play
Enjoying each others company
Being together is the winning
Spending time of playing love
Wishing and hoping it has no ending

A game of chance?
A game of destiny?
Play with romance,
Or choose chastity
No matter your stance,
there’s the same expectancy
To win, you must advance
in finding ecstasy
To lose, be in a circumstance
full of emptiness and vacancy

A game you cannot cheat in
A game you cannot win
For some, another game to pass the time
To distract you from your own life
For others
This thing called love
Is no game at all
In fact, it’s a way of life

You see, it’s hard playing a game
when most players don’t know the rules.

“Chess Players”, Painting by Georgy Kurasov

The rules are simple
and yet never followed,
you either break a heart
or get yours swallowed.
But sometimes there is a twist
and you find there is no heart
Just your wandering soul
dreaming of this game called love.

I think that the rules are fairly simple
This isn’t rocket science
Once I started the game
I became addicted
But not to the game,
because I was addicted to
the emotions I felt towards the other player

When your love disappears in the midst of the night…
He is a but a wisp of air you so heavily breathe…
The grace in your childs movement…
The soft little whispers in your ear…
The rules dont stipulate the cost
Of giving your heart away

I would play this game, but my heart deserves better

If I play the game of love with you,
you’ll hold my heart for ransom.

When it comes to these things, there are no rules
You play and get played, you know that, silly fool

Yeah love is a heart wrenching suicide,
Love is emotion we can’t hide
Love is a poison that’s locked deep inside

Love is a losing game

Love really does hurt

Love sounds like fun, but not really…

All I know is that I will be mad
And set some rules
Be my king and I will be your fool
Be sincere and I will be faithful
I will protect you..

I played it like a deja-vu, started and ended up
Losing with wrong playmates, but still hoping, undoubtedly
That one day chances will be mine,
Winning the prize of true pure love for eternity.

Loving myself was never a priority,
while my heart aches for a new burn.

So come on in and join me,
Together we can create new rules
To beautifully fall apart once more,
And always once more.

Once more I lost in my favorite game,
And today I promise never play it again
Cause I’ve been bruised so many times,
I cannot take another chance.

Let’s try and find some other game,
Love has brought a lot of pain,
Now only the time play,
Can makes us feel whole and sane.

Love saved me from myself
And I saved it from the world.

But I never win with them
So it’s better when alone
I learn to practice
The rules of it
Now I’m the only player
Playing to love
None other than
Myself.

Because I’ve played this game so many times before
And everytime I did, I always end up losing.

Losing a part of me,
Losing a part of my sanity.
So now i try to play this game again,
Maybe i know the rules better,
Maybe i can cheat the other player,
Maybe i can finally win
In this game that they call love.

Because I always lose in each turn I take
And every decision I make.
I’m a loser gaining nothing but memories and stitches.

But I always play, especially when it’s you.

Animation by (yet) unknown artist

You fill me with excitement
And expectations, emotions and dreams.

You’re my breathing life.

So, I’ll still play and feel alive once again.

Passion is how it embraces us.

Illustration by Aykut Aydogdu

It breaks down your heart, it digs deep in your eyes,
Swims to the deepest ocean that breathes in you.

Some days I feel like I am on top of the world

Filled with passion, waiting to spill
All over the ones I desire
Sometimes I don’t know if I’m wrong
For craving you for so long
But this game is worth playing

So I will experiment with both.
I’ll fall deeply in love with my own self,
however hard it may be,
I will inject the needle of love deep in my cells,
and watch it intertwine with my DNA.

Photography by Nude Yoga Girl

I decided to play with others.
That was the happiest and the saddest.
I got drunk with lies and he got drowned with love.
I took all the pain and he was out there,
Licking someone else’s lips.

Now I’m back playing with myself,
Embraced with pain and darkness.
I thought I’m better off dancing alone.
Than slowly killing myself
Playing my favourite game called love.

We’ll just swing over playgrounds
Build lego house and lego hearts

And then we’ll bike too see if there’s a depth
On the road,we’ll run if the tires gone flat
And when it rains we’ll still run
I hope you won’t lose breath

Because commonly around storms,
When everyone’s tired and things aren’t handy
One of us we’ll say they’ll do it by themselves
And you’ll wait because you’ve trust them
Until your skin have already sipped
The last raindrop on your skin

And theres nothing more but heat and sun
But you stand up on your feet and run
‘Cause maybe road doesn’t have their ends
But rain came again and you realized
It’s just you who feels it dripping
But you still run, run and run
Until you see it with yourself
That it’s still the road’s ends that approached you

And you’ve trust them too much
After all, it was just a game
Too tricky, too treachery
But do you still want to play the game?

We’ll just swing over playgrounds,
Build Lego houses and Lego hearts

Animation by Florian de Looij (FLRN)

And do you want to play it with me?
Because maybe this time the road has no end.

I will also play with others,
rip my bleeding heart and hand it to them.
I’ll watch a curious look merge on their faces.
as my blood soothes their hands,
and they feel my love lurking in their veins.

I am enjoying this game,
As I feel love exploding out of every particle of my body.
But this game is bleeding me out.
and killing me at the same time.

There were rules in place for this game
But I did not know if I wanted to follow
Rules are for the mind and for those
whose hearts are a little more shallow

If I decided to love myself, I found
I was unable to stay in love with another
because the prospect of giving up a part
of myself needed courage I couldn’t muster

Illustration by Marie Toh

There were rules but I didn’t bother.
So I played it and got broken.
More than knees wounds,
A lot has been taken.
But I played, God, again and again.
But each time is just the same.
And I have tasted other peoples name.
Now my tongue has turned bitter.
So this time I played with rules
And it just says, look in the mirror.
But I couldn’t, I wouldn’t, I cant, I did.
And the longer I looked the more I understand.
That with the taste of my own name.
Nothing could be sweeter.
And Today I played my favorite game.
It’s called Love.
I tried playing it with myself.
And nothing could be better.

If I decided to love another, I lost
The flame that set my soul on fire,
In wanting to be with that other person,
I lost myself in the mires of desire

For I have never got the chance
To truly understand its rules
It has always been me dancing
With the wind mistaking it for a lover
It was always me holding water tightly in my hand
Mistaking it for a lover’s hand
It was always me kissing a ghost
Mistaking it for a passionate person
It was always me mistaken…

Beckoned her eyes to mine
Our shyness erupted into downward smiles
Her hands were ridiculously small
Only to realise that mine,
Intertwined with hers, were not much larger.
Her hunger showed in her lips, her hips, sex
We were not playing the same game
I knew that as I warmed her freezing hands
With my burning heart
It was over before it ever did start

Love, you deluded me
Shallow version of the truth
Blinded my soul
And carried my heart to the sea
Where we both watched it
Softly crying for your skin
Desperately searching for your arms
That would teach her to swim
Love, you do not know
That I’ll break what I promised too

For a moment you will catch him.
In those tender quiet hours
But your chest will heave…
And your head will fall
As you realise he will not be there
Not even at all
So you cry to the moon
And you shout at the stars
And the mirrors of tears reflected in mars.

Illustration by Aykut Aydogdu

I broke my promise
Because I was greedy for flesh
And the guilt of it
Never lets me rest

Why play a game you know you’re gonna lose already?
And now that she is gone I feel empty everyday,
I gave her all I had and she took it all away.

My heart always aches
Not knowing, if I love too much or too little.
But it’s a game I made up
There aren’t any winners or losers
Only me alone.

Photography by Zhang Jia Wu

No matter how careful you are,
There’s going to be the sense
You missed something,
The collapsed feeling under your skin
That you didn’t experience it all.

There’s that fallen heart feeling
That you rushed right through
The moments when you should’ve been paying attention.

Well, get used to that feeling.
That’s how your whole life will feel some day.

This is all practice.

My mom has always teached me to play it alone,
To love my self and never depend on someone else,
But now, I kinda feel bored, I wanna share the tips I learned,
During the many stages of playing alone, with others.

I want to continue this game, this adventure,
With someone else, a friend.

The last time I played it with others, my heart bled
And I couldn’t stop losing.

But then, I felt the sudden need to play it
Again & again & again,
Until I realized that I’ve been playing it all wrong.

Love isn’t just something you play until you win.
Love is an learning experience.

Every single game is different than the other and sometimes,
You just have to keep playing until you find
The greatest team mate of them all.

Bianca Chandôn, Photography by Viktor Vauthier

All I know is that once you are devoted to this game,
You will never be the same.
Either you lose or win, you’ll always have something to pay,
For love is a burning flame that takes everything in its way.

But winning means losing oneself,
And winners don’t necessarily take all,
As all is fair that two can play the same role.

You’re me, and I, you. It’ll be just like staring at the mirror,
Except your move determines my next clue,
For like a game of Taboo,
There’s some guessing we both must do.

For everytime I look into your eyes,

I find my self swimming
in an ocean of thoughts,
as though you can always read me
while I drown in an almost bygone memory.
And when you smile, my heart skips
a beat, faster than the last.
I might suffocate and die — my lungs filled with glee and
my brain poisoned with hope.
I could be broken without being shattered.
I could end up alone without feeling your warmth.
I am afraid.
Maybe it’s just infatuation.
Maybe it’s called love.
With you I can’t be certain.
Now I don’t know if it’s a game
I should play with you

However, love is a game worth playing.
There are no other excuses for not to love

Photography by (yet) unknown artist

Love’s a choice, and to love that choice isn’t just for

One
Or two
Or three

It includes all
The past generations

Us
And the world to come
And

The secret
The greatest trial
Is that
Only has one simple rule:

If you choose not to love, you lose.

Better get lost in love
Than not being part of it.

Amor. Sólo eso.
Love. Just that.

Like his love for all of us.
Infinite beautiful amazing love.
Everlasting. Overlaying all pain and fear…

My God, my perfect love.
Grace. Hope. Life.

All, all, all of us need to awake

Love is the ultimate soul connection.

***

This collage of poetry is written with the help of the writers on our Facebook page. We would like to thank everyone for their text submissions, we assure you that each and every verse has been featured in the making of this poem and the authors are credited with their names in no particular order. We hope you enjoy our #CollectivePoetryExperience series and contribute to the next one.

Love from Berlin.

A big Thank You to the authors:

Michelle Ann Gulleban ― Ray Alan Palangan ― Ade Line ― Meryll Ocampo ― Jonathan Ocampo ― Dianelix Rivera ― Santosh Vijayakumar ― Mary Coleen ― Sanchez Pangan ― Natasha Noel ― Mirna Al Jurdy ― 小さな花 ― Leslie Quan ― Kerri-Lynn Duarte Silva ― Saul Zuniga ― Andreea Maria L ― Quéesser Aramís ― Jovana Jelic ― Peter Jackson ― Jessica Fernando ― Lubna El-Mansy ― Rosaury Valenzuela Mora ― Adriana Padilla ― Andrew Campbell ― Ben Gabriel Mendoza ― Aj Garchitorena ― Susan Imhoff ― Jacob Hall ― Dharti Gajjar ― Vrushank Nayak ― Greta Andreeva ― Juliet Antonio ― Allie Easley ― Harry Franz ― Potski McPoet ― Myriam Saleh ― Tebourski Hosn ― Angélica C Garayalde Pérez ― Alexandra Briggs ― Rania Laraba ― Ankshita Chansoria ― Nidhika Singh Rathore ― Gillian Wood ― Michele Frettoli ― Ili Zuhaili Norizan  ― Ann Arceo ― Jon Wick ― Kylie Lucchesi ― Hyo Ah Park ― Mieca Aguinaldo ― Dharyl Luna ― Sahil Malik ― Bibiana Kranz ― Dritan Vokrri ― Mandy Borg ― Ankita Bhattacharya ― Hanna Gorani ― Chriszelle Nagel

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