Bound Up In Relationship

When we make love
I am lost
There is no longer me
and no longer you

I become
“bound-up”
in relationship with you.

We both forget ourselves
and come out knowing
more about each other

It’s transpersonal
and mystical
spiritual
neither
you
nor
me.

But that’s only when we make love
Most of the time
I feel
objectified
eroticized
manipulated
counted
sized-up
and criticized.

We need to have some balance here.

This is one of a series of poems I wrote on love and relationship in May of 1998. Each poem makes reference to a psychological, psychoanalytic, existential or spiritual theory. This particular poem points to Martin Buber's "I-Thou". Other poems in the series touch on "Empathy", "Romatic Love", "Ego Strength", "Romantic Love As Resistance", and "Support Groups"