Edwin Bodney - When a Boy Tells You He Loves You

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Edwin Bodney, performing at Da Poetry Lounge in Los Angeles, CA.
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Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry's audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.

[@youjerkmuffin]

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

[@vanguardiris3232]

H Ritter Women and men.

[@lovedichoreo1529]

H Ritter yes

[@melodyarredondo2942]

:'(

[@rachellegraves8111]

This line... :'(

[@602.adriii]

man:(

[@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.

[@mintpalmer]

Yeah, it's funny. A lot of poets on this channel feel like they need to shout. While I can understand it conveys their emotions in a reading, I feel like the poem should speak for itself. It's also interesting, as being part of the English poetry scene, a lot of poets here tend to be slower and more deliberate. Interesting cultural differences.

[@indieanna8007]

His voice is making me search for more...

[@Fufupie]

In the defense of all poets who shout in their speech I would like to say that we are poets our gift is in our words not in our voices yet we still wish to share our words with the world so we must speak it but if we were to speak in a calm voice it would become a monotone drone sucking the life out of the product of our life and some of us just lose ourselves in our words feeling our emotions from when we were writing swell up and burst spouting from our lips and without realizing we find ourselves shouting desperately hoping our words will echo through the hearts of the audience so that those listening may feel the way we do and respond to our cries with equally raucous cries of respect so I ask you do not degrade us poets who are forced to shout for we just poor souls lacking the skill of a soothing voice and easily swept away by our emotions we so long to project

[@Idol_Na]

Fufu Pie ♡♡

[@ewstap9040]

Iluvmycowcow ikr

[@MACJunkie88]

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

[@ennvee1989]

MACJunkie88 guurl i used to watch your videos yeaarrs ago!

[@ennvee1989]

MACJunkie88 guurl i used to watch your videos yeaarrs ago!

[@MoesFingers]

Someone sounds like they have personal issues...

[@dawg1510]

*vicariously snaps*

[@MzJazzy123100]

MACJunkie88 That was too deep

[@christophergabbrants5064]

My interpretation: Love is in actions not words.

[@chanchalakshijatariya4233]

True that ..

[@Nowhy]

Bingo

[@chloem.872]

I disagree... I think love exists in both words and actions and possibly in more spaces than you or i could imagine

[@anivalsabilot552]

Actions can be ambiguous and misleading as words can be.....but actions supported by words and words supported by actions is the key to healthy relationship, cause by being consistent with your words and actions there will be no room for dubious fidelity and characters.

[@kanyasigwanda2158]

“I Love You” isn’t something you say but you do.

[@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.

[@TheRetroWoman80]

I wish they could too. So sad.

[@AM-wk5rk]

thiswarispointless. im so happy for you, hope you two will stay forever together!

[@jayakhan9680]

WELL YOU ARE THE ANOMALY MY FRIEND!!!!!!

[@mayela48]

Mariam Khan "how can we be the anomaly"

[@jayakhan9680]

its "anomaly" and i was just saying that you dont find many boys like that here. Its very rare to experience what she is referring too.

[@cookiemonster-fw9hr]

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.

[@shrutimanimegalais6605]

wow, love that insight

[@marcusbangemu6041]

Legit this is so true

[@shyrleimartinez2632]

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

[@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

[@sierraEllifritt]

Lol I missed spelled worthless

[@crystalallen10]

Amen , Preach ! the inconsistency is killing me

[@MoonWave-]

Sierra Lee not me.. a girl told me this..crushed me... I'm not like the other guys... I respected her.. loved her.. gave my everything.. and she didn't Care... not one bit..

[@sateeva000]

Ryan lincon ..will you ever care again?or will you end up like the rest of them..just douchès

[@MultiGoldkehlchen]

Sierra Lee .. if you're lucky

[@bookwormgirl000]

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

[@daviswatkins1439]

RIGHT????!

[@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."

[@daviswatkins1439]

dammit - so good.

[@AS-gy7tu]

As good as him

[@Snigdha2409]

Can you tell me what this particular part actually meant?

[@victoriahawk1821]

This was an amazing and sad line wasn't it? Just wow

[@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?"

[@kathrynhawthorne958]

Thank you so much for this 😊

[@taylorhall1094]

Thanks

[@winstonmiller9649]

Thank you. It is interesting. it flows from the poet like a river. You can't catch a handful of it. You can't stop it. But thanks for slowing it down so I can hear it.👍🏽😊💕

[@kyliepatricemagtagnob6847]

Thanks

[@richawahyuni]

Thank you❣️

[@keyralites]

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

[@courtney7459]

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

[@saimounikasudula1747]

courtney Can you please explain its meaning for me?

[@courtney7459]

To me it means that something good was lost when you say I love you back- something sweet. Saying I love you to someone who you know does not love you is sad, and fake, and forced. That's why I really like that he used the word spill- as if saying it was unfortunate.

[@saimounikasudula1747]

courtney Thank you very much😊😊

[@mekylaalvarado5145]

"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.

[@lemmon3]

"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."

[@zbrooo]

+selina justine "That bled me into a corpse with so many questions of my own for the soil" Hands down my favourite poem of all time.

[@audrijapal405]

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

[@Kylie-wg9mg]

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

[@batmanyasss6535]

this is EXACTLY how I feel

[@ajriosishere]

We see you, we hear you

[@leilanidababe8146]

sameee😭😪

[@myamazingscreenname]

+Kylie New This is currently my favorite thing on the internet

[@starkid77]

You know what you had to say I was reading it, but I felt the sound, I felt the feeling, maybe you should give us some spoken word too.

[@happypandas2069]

His voice is beautiful and his delivery and metaphors are everything

[@sohsaraaa]

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

[@DeathIsLethal]

that's not really the reason, but sure

[@oingoboingo1720]

@@DeathIsLethal the reason? Wym

[@DeathIsLethal]

@@oingoboingo1720 my comment is 8 months old, and I don't remember writing it, so I'm not sure what I meant tbh. I think I meant I might have been disagreeing about how they think that the speaker being male makes the poem more legitimate.

[@oingoboingo1720]

@@DeathIsLethal gotchu thanks

[@Hiphop101ize]

I think he's gay, so

[@jessicanicole4350]

Ah we meet again. Every time I get my heart broken I return to this.

[@M3RRY]

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

[@kpv7438]

Can you pls explain it

[@sakshithakur2779]

@@kpv7438 that if he makes so much of noise of this thing, you'll crush his feelings like a tissue to show his worth. Like the tissue have been used as a mataphor here..... so he goes silent fearing being crushed like a tissue

[@kpv7438]

@@sakshithakur2779 tysm 🙂

[@kpv7438]

@@sakshithakur2779 I did not get a point.. why is he saying that a boy does not really mean 'ILY' when he says it? Or does it mean that, past ILYs in a broken relationship wasn't really meaning it

[@unrepentantoffender188]

@@kpv7438 if everything has to be spoonfed to you, just read a news article.

[@kcgurl123]

"He is just a silly, sad boy. Remember?"

[@yesreneau]

The crescent moon line got me.

[@M3RRY]

YesReneau what was the meaning?

[@tamannabhardwaj4474]

Hey! Good to see you here!

[@abiradas1992]

M3RRY it means the girl's smile

[@karmabelieverI]

Everything about moon just hits me. :)^_^;

[@diyarahman621]

Omg sem

[@charlicharliluv4245]

"When a boy says he loves you it means i am getting ready to be inconsistant with you now" omg truth

[@elidahavn5234]

yess, preach!!

[@detox1462]

When I told her “I love you” I sought her out as she was continents away. When I told her “ I love you” she didn’t believe me. When I told her “I love you” she told me she doesn’t. When I told her “I love you” she said back off. When I told her “I love you” she said you shouldn’t. When I told her “I love you” she said why?. When I told her “I love you” she said I’m not serious. When I told her “I love you” she said I was silly. When I told her “I love you, you’re the one, and there isn’t anyone who would own your space in my heart” she said “I do love you, I just don’t think I’m worth it”. I told her, and told her, and told her. I told her “marry me” she believed me and now she’s my wife :)

[@weneedmoreconsideratepeopl4006]

😭😭😭😭😭👌

[@dishaverma8484]

Beautiful 💙

[@GrowthwithSuhMeeYuh]

I'm tearing up😭😭😭

[@leighmei]

🥺😢😭

[@writingisfun9842]

That's wonderful.

[@sarasquashed]

I must have first watched this when I was 15. I'm 22 now, and a boy just last year told me he loved me. He never meant a single word of it.

[@sarastepp7665]

"He will never grow hungry, just distant". I have listened to this piece over and over. Each time a different line sticks out to me. This is art. It make you uncomfortable because it makes you understand.

[@hammier1.033]

Sara Stepp the last line “he is a just a boy, just a lonely silly boy remember”

[@janjr165]

LESSON: Don't choose a "boy" to begin a relationship with; choose a MAN.

[@casstheangel3512]

And then prepare for that man to still behave like a boy often

[@maryamali9880]

what is the difference between men n boy ?

[@casstheangel3512]

Maryam Ali it’s all a maturity thing, that’s the same difference between a girl and a woman

[@theltgamingplayz645]

Just get yourself a women... 😂

[@randomcomment7675]

Choose a human

[@kellyo1202]

If this poem had been shouted, it would've made me nod my head in agreement and grimace at the memories it brought. Because it wasn't, it broke my heart instead.

[@moonshadowsmusic]

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 here 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 and 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 passing 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 in 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 he asks for 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 will remember the day your courier 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 ask 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 will 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?

[@johanssona]

So sad

[@bgos4727]

Thank you❤

[@Hairrbymaria]

@@johanssona un

[@kkoorrnnyy]

"When a boy says he loves you, he means 'I am getting ready to be inconsistent with you now."

[@thedrawingmuffins]

Wow, I just got my heart broken by a boy to, and this described the whole situation.

[@zafirahzharpay]

okay where has this channel been all my life 😱😱

[@ButtonPoetry]

Glad you're here! :)

[@ickyleg4282]

zafirah zee exactly I'm sitting here wondering the same thing

[@tigergirl305]

Lol okay I guess I'll just stay single forever because I have seen too many poems like this one warning me

[@Missriroo]

I totally agree 😭

[@tpainbaby66]

Single Gang for life 💯

[@sprt1317]

Damn Idk falling in love and feeling such raw emotion and making memories is dank whether you feel heartbroken or just in love

[@Saveara.]

try it

[@aj9532]

i swear its better to be single

[@ericmike12]

I dont know about other guys but When I tell my girlfriend I love her, maybe what i say isnt truly what I mean. Because what I mean is so much more than a single word can ever define. I thought I had felt love before but it was never in this way. From the moment I saw her face to the moment she spoke her first words to me I knew I was in love with her. I knew that from that moment on nothing else mattered. Nothing except for this one moment I was in right now that would decide whether or not I get to spend my life with this, beautiful girl. Beautiful cannot define her either. She puts the word beautiful to shame. Her mind is like a sparkling diamond hidden away in a safe. It might take a while to get in and see whats inside. Turning the combination lock, hoping you hear the click that lets you in. but once you do you are overwhelmed with joy and awe. And once the safe was opened and the light was let in, it reflected off her, like a diamond and proceeded to light up my previously dark and sad world. She isnt just a girl I fell in love with. She's my saviour. She's my everything. She's my soul mate. I know we were always destined for each other. Its like looking for a new, beautiful, magnificent work of art for your home. You dont know exactly what you are looking for. Just for something that maybe catches your eye. But then you see it. The one most exquisite work of art that is so beautiful that you start crying tears of joy. That's what its like with her. and just like that work of art I want her in my home, with me forever and ever. You see every second of every day theres nothing on my mind other than her. She is the only thing that makes me happy in this world. She saved me. And I love her. I love her with everything in me. and I know I love her. And I know from the look in her eyes and that beautiful smile she gets when I tell, that when I say I love her, it means everything.

[@maiying2874]

Your words are too beautiful! Your girl is the luckiest!!!

[@ashleyjean2097]

that is because you are not a BOY you are a MAN there is a huge difference everything that was said in that poem obviously describes things only boys would do , boys who havnt realized the true meaning of love, boys who are lost and are only after one thing

[@misssource3106]

Eric McIntyre waw,amazing. you're a man, , not a boy!

[@devyn5174]

Eric McIntyre I feel like you could have condensed this down to a few sentences.

[@sayanit7123]

Not "another silly sad boy"..

[@ntombi-yensimbinarrates7297]

As a recently single lady, who used to have this poem on replay before I dated him, I get it. The inconsistency, I saw it. The distance, I felt it.

[@caroleugenepark7599]

Many years later, this poem still gets me in my feels. What a masterpiece.

[@rosa.00_]

beautiful voice and powerful words

[@ahgajaye]

the way he ended was so perfect

[@SketchyLemonade]

The kind of disrespect when u plays iggys voice after something so beautiful

[@awesomelashay6033]

ikr. so not cool. -_-

[@kotaku636]

Exactly like *_what type of rudeness_*

[@itsthatgirl1148]

Praising ones work should not mean downgrading anothers . Unlearn that .

[@oliviavoyles1420]

This breaks my heart to think that people actually go through that and that is how they feel about love.

[@ArchanaShresthathesubtlesigh]

After Sarah Kay's "The Type", it was high time I hadn't assaulted the replay button the way I am doing now. This is simply beautiful and his voice does all the charms. "Because the boy has never handed you those words like a crushed black berries in the palms of his hand..firm, young, full, waiting to taste sweet with you. " Patience is something you are working on. "..One by one the boy has fallen silently as the birds do. "..only to become silent like a folded sheet of tissue paper." Man, is this beautiful!

[@akirajounetsui]

Sara Kay and Kaye are my favorite poets just like Edwin, Akeemjamal, and many more,.

[@poetryandshit]

You said it! You said what I was intending on saying! Thanks a ton!!

[@justshanban279]

Yea I was thinking the same which is dope allowing others to inspire us to create something

[@yorutempest3300]

Didn't realize it has been 9 years, I still listen to this, it just makes me feel things I can't explain. It really is beautifully written and delivered. ❤

[@shantcheetah]

What most people don’t understand is the word “love” is a very deep word..

[@tori2431]

That last remember always gets me

[@sephmaz4887]

When beauty is disguised in such calmness and depth, you can only respond with a simple inhale, exhale of air and the wrenching of your heart. This poem, his voice and the words, are beautiful.

[@EjvindGEMDark]

I got stood up by a friend once, left in a train station for ten hours after travelling 125 miles. Heart wrenching, even though I knew it wasn't reciprocated. 125 miles home, alone, crying. Fun times.

[@erwstories9065]

one of the best pieces of poetry till this day.

[@ButtonPoetry]

Couldn't agree more!

[@writerspen010]

I hope we get a follow up named "When A Man Tells You He Loves You."

[@mbaliey1476]

You will watch the words fall onto your lap like a spilled glass of white wine...Hoooo

[@SpitfireDramaQueen]

I listened to this piece and felt the urge to cry- yet was so moved that I was rendered motionless. I remember loving such a boy, only he was half-true- half inconsistent, and yet when he wasn't, consumed me with love. What a fretful dilemma indeed, to love and not be loved at the same time.

[@purple438]

And here I am, back to this poem again.

[@callmeclaire8188]

That made my stomach flip and flop because, to me, every word said was true.

[@dewaldminnie9480]

"Do not crack your face into the fullest crescent moon at the tapered bottom of a blackened sky." Omg. I love poets.

[@ajmagoov2]

I've told two girls I loved them, but the inconsistency was not on my part, and the heartbreak was not on theirs. But this is still a brilliant poem.

[@rachelmarquez9436]

"If only I heard this years ago" what someone's comment said. I have not yet been in love, but I'm glad I read this now and heard this poem now. BC I am afraid of falling in love I'm afraid because if I don't love myself how can I love another, esp if they are also a broken soul like me. I'm afraid, this is preparation. I'm 16, is it bad that I haven't even had my first kiss?

[@Lavenderia554]

Rachel Marquez I'm 17 and I haven't even been on a date. I somehow understand you. :) It's okay.

[@RitsychServare]

Rachel Marquez Not at all. It just means that you're not wasting what's preciously yours for someone you don't know for certain deserves you. And it'll be worth the wait.

[@termite6854]

I'm in college and I haven't had my first kiss either don't worry about it

[@nyahdias9591]

Falling in love is only great if that person loves you back or else you will look like a fool. Heartbreak is the hardest thing to go through because its likeman addiction to that person and what they did to hurt you just facts

[@feathergirl5343]

+Rachel Marquez i'm almost 18 and i have never been kissed. I don't know i if they would have done if i had let them. I didn't know i was not letting them until it was too late and it is the same every time. I have had people say i love you but haven't been brave enough to listen, to hear, let alone say it back. I too am afraid to love. To love my self as well as others and i am terrofied of saying "i love you". But i have loved and have been loved and i surounded by people who love me and i love them back even though all too often i am afraid to admit it. And i should remember this and so should you and so should we all.

[@molsers]

this was beautiful and the person's voice was so soft and calming

[@victoriawang8141]

is it weird that i find this man beautiful like just beautiful no strings attached

[@silverstarz4]

the way he says it whoa

[@VeralBoni]

"He is just a silly, sad boy remember?" THIS LINE MADE MY HEART BURST OPEN. I have strongly identified my current feelings with this particular poem. I am generally emotional but this poem is so beautifully written that I thank you so much for this. I felt understood and now I understand.

[@deatbeatdaisies]

"he is just a boy,remember" holy crap

[@Figs3]

I have seen this live, you should all know that it is JUST as AMAZING!

[@juniper10]

Figs3 wow!! You saw it live?!!!!

[@Figs3]

@@juniper10 Edwin is a friend of mine. He's such a great guy and I've seen him preform this. It still makes me just as speechless as the first time I heard it.

[@siyethembabota]

I keep coming back to this poem, it's just so beautiful and it was definitely well delivered.

[@ButtonPoetry]

Glad you enjoy it!

[@blueman18423]

This is probably one of the only poems that have ever truly resonated with me, both in the message and the speaking style of the poet. Absolutely incredible piece.

[@misfittastic]

i come back to this poem every so often, it holds a dear place for me, thank you even after al these years

[@RoverBot1]

Who hurt you? :'(

[@majesticq226]

Exactly 😢😢

[@danicamariah5965]

RoverBot1 who didn't?

[@vvv-zo9ps]

A boy

[@oloriokoro992]

OOOHHH IF I HAD ONLY HEARD THIS YYYEARS AGO... *sigh* SO CREATIVE... EYES WIDE SHUT AND BITTERLY TRUTFUL...

[@jaylaholman63]

This makes me think, about a boy, he tells me constantly that he loves me, he's not mine. He's in love with another, there is a difference. I'm in love with him and he just uses the word like its a reassurance.

[@xblackflutex]

That voice is like silk. Can I get Shakespeare on audio tape in that please??? Also, brilliant poetry!

[@freezyrachel5974]

I am screaming and i have been screaming since 5 min 😱 ... I listened to it thrice. Wow 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 I love it

[@emmakinzy1991]

I hear his voice right before a breakup. I’m glad I can see it coming.

[@skypinkidol]

When you have to discuss a poem and this pops up in your notifications🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@traumagotmesick6750]

karma :))))

[@KLUVATL]

It's 2021 and this is my first time hearing this...Chills throughout...the delivery...my soul is moved.

[@neleah1]

His voice!!! My GOD!!! #spokenword

[@kuimuturi6152]

When a boy tells you he loves you he is getting ready to be inconsistent

[@elliemay6390]

A boy is breaking my heart. I'm waiting for him to be a man.. don't think I should wait

[@take_a_break.5124]

You should never wait for him love, those who break u at first can never mend u later. Plz get out of this

[@katarinasirait6581]

do not sit idle. get urself worth more than he can never imagine.

[@anonimust4203]

the words leave his mouth so peacefully and soothingly, very beautifully delivered.

[@sarvitalks7522]

My head grew clear after listening to this

[@simplyjustsloan]

Literally about to cry. Relates to me current situation so much.

[@shyamalganguly3598]

It's moving, it's a forgotten feeling, it steals the heart and captivates the girl forever with an invisible chain which nothing worse can unshackle for a lifetime. Today it's lucky to be heard these simplest words; the boy who delivers this arrogant musical utterance to the heartful ear is the bravest person in the life of the girl!! No appreciation is more telling than just "I love you"!!

[@satarupaganguly3731]

It's been a year since I heard this poem. Fell in love with another sad boy and he broke up today. Shedding tears again and playing this song again. 😂

[@badfi5hie]

this is honestly one of the best videos to be uploaded on this channel in a while

[@jennamariewetzel7502]

This makes my heart hurt in the best kind of way

[@swaburaqueennyamuneza2525]

Still Listen to This countless times I don’t outgrow this poem When a boy tells you he loves you it means he’s ready to be inconsistent but remember he’s just another silly boy oooh 😢

[@poetryreadindude604]

This poem is rich & LUSCIOUS. I have to pause and relisten and rewind and listen and relisten because he packs so much imagery into so few words.

[@oliviapete]

"Do not crack your face into the fullest crescent moon at the tapered bottom of a blackened sky"

[@poetryndestiny]

I just cant stop myself from loving this

[@Charthe1st]

Whenever I'm about to write I listen to Edwin Bodney. I literally think you're hands down the best poet I've ever heard

[@cassipiedra9946]

"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 here 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 and 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 passing 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 in 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 he asks for 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 will remember the day your courier 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 ask 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 will 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?"

[@55sweetheart55]

I feel like he is talking about himself ? I wonder, something about guilt or remorse in his voice. Beautiful voice :) such a moving piece, can't help but cry listening to this.

[@MegaTwinkle101]

im in love w his words omg such elegant prose

[@ache401]

I never get tired of this "here take everything I have ever touched to be closer to you..."

[@tallis.andrea]

Such beautiful use of language. Whether you can relate or not, the words and flow of the poem are gorgeous. Fantastic work and recitation💕💕💕

[@blushingbrunette]

I could listen to his voice all day 😍

[@amnasplaylists]

Oh my god that was amazing. I didn't realize I was holding my breath until it ended. It was beautiful

[@j.a.s8075]

I was mesmerized the second he spoke

[@tuliplouart]

Whenever I want to have a good cry, I listen to this.

[@yueqing666]

This. Was. Beautiful.

[@anewloveofficial9137]

Saying "I love you" to someone these days is like giving it without actually mean it. I've always heard it to men I loved before but I realized that I was not the only one loved by him. Sometimes you don't have to believe everything a person says to you unless if you see it through his actions. I'd rather have someone who is not that expressive in words but cares for me like no man could ever love me.

[@TreyAllDay666]

"Only to become silent like a folded sheet of tissue paper, not wanting you to decrease him into the truth." The best double entendre.

[@myamichele444]

i’ve kept this video in my watch later since 2016. i cannot overstate how beautiful this is

[@ibrhin95]

same 🤌