A Poem That Found Its Power
Some lines don’t just describe a feeling—they become it. In The Prelude Girl, one keeps echoing long after the page turns:
“It was my throne, yet I was the one afraid that you would let it go.”
— from “This Is How I Loved You”
Why does this land so hard? Because it names the quiet imbalance at the center of many almost-loves: devotion as coronation. The speaker has lifted someone high, built a seat of power out of hope—and then admits the fear that the crowned one might simply set the crown down and walk away. The image is simple, almost ceremonial, but the psychology is razor-sharp. It captures how love can tilt from intimacy to authority without anyone saying a word.
Read aloud, the line carries its drumbeat—throne, afraid, let it go—a slow tightening that releases only when you hear the final four words. That cadence is typical of Marjorie Gavan’s work: spare, declarative, and built to be spoken. The poem doesn’t moralize; it observes the structure of a feeling and lets us witness the moment the speaker sees it clearly.
For readers who have ever installed someone else at the center of their lives, the recognition stings—and then steadies. Throughout The Prelude Girl, clarity often arrives before comfort. The book is less about finding tidy closure than about telling the truth beautifully enough that you can live with it. In that sense, this line is a hinge: it swings the poem—and the reader—toward self-recognition, the first step back to self-regard.
Come hear it in the room. Poetry changes when a voice carries it across the air, when the pause after a hard line lets everyone breathe together. We’ll read this piece (and the poems bracing it on both sides) at the launch, and you’ll feel exactly where the line chooses to land.
Join the launch
When: Saturday, August 30, 2025 · 2:00 PM
Where: Capri Art Café & Gallery, 289 A Mabini St, Barangay Nueva, San Pedro, 4023 Laguna
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Paperback: Buy on Amazon.
Kindle eBook (pre-order): Reserve your copy.
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