Where Does Love Go

Did it evaporate
with the last remaining traces of his scent

or with the smoke from the cigarette,
the last from the crushed packet he left behind?

She couldn’t stomach breakfast,
and there were hours to cross until the island of lunch,

and a rainy afternoon to get through,
the rest of the day with only a stormcock

for company, its lonely song
falling like tears from the windswept wall.

The sweater he forgot
is draped on the back of a kitchen chair,

teasing her with its woolly warmth;
it doesn’t realise he’s gone, not coming back.

He’s taken love with him,
screwed up in his pocket like a used tissue,

leaving her with nothing but fading
scent and smoke, and an unwashed sweater.

Kim M. Russell, 14th April 2026

Image by Hari Krishnan S. on Unsplash

This Tuesday at the dVerse Poets Pub, I’m hosting Poetics with the question ‘Where does love go?’ My prompt is based on an email from The Marginalian, and an article in their magazine Traversal about Mary Shelley.

I found many poems written about the aftermath of love, each one different, by poets such as W.H. Auden, Stevie Smith and Audre Lorde, to name but a few.

The challenge is to write poems with the title ‘Where does love go when it goes?’ and answer it in our poems.

Also shared with NaPoWriMo on 15th April 2026.

53 thoughts on “Where Does Love Go”

  1. Oh, wow! So many phrases/lines to love. I especially liked “island of lunch” and “He’s taken love with him,
    screwed up in his pocket like a used tissue,

    leaving her with nothing but fading
    scent and smoke, and an unwashed sweater.”

    Love it, Kim. ❤️

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  3. Pingback: Where Did Love Go? – The Tigress Awakens

  5. Wow, this is so true, when love leaves those scents do linger. Beautifully illustrated Kim. I kept thinking of that song One Less Set of Footsteps on your floor by Jim Croce while reading this one. I think it was the sweater.

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  9. He’s taken love with him, – one can feel the loss in that line. The sweater left behind is a wonderful personal touch in this poem of lost love.

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  12. Beautifully composed. And speaks to our common heart break experience from when a lover jets…lots of great lines but my fave …getting through the rest of the day with only a stormcock

    for company, its lonely song
    falling like tears from the windswept wall”

    Devastating! Well done, and awesome awesome prompt idea!

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  17. All those things left behind… where indeed does love go when it goes? It reunites with poets I think and rekindles so love can get out of the labyrinth to heal unrequited hearts. Maybe. I sure don’t know but your poem is lovely. Thanks for sharing.

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  18. That’s where I left it! Great economy here in Dido’s apartment the morning after, just a few details – crushed cigarette pack, a cast-off sweater, the stormcock’s winterwet song — to sum a presence now absence. Excellent.

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  19. So good, Kim! You convey the feeling of lost love so well–the scent of smoke, the unwashed sweater. I like that it’s sort of ambiguous. She could be talking about the end of a love affair/marriage, or did he die?

    Like others, I really liked this line,

    “He’s taken love with him,
    screwed up in his pocket like a used tissue,”

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  20. Lovely work, Kim. I really enjoyed reading it. So much so I read it several times. There’s a subtle control that lets the emotion come through without forcing it. The imagery is strong and consistent. The scent, smoke, and sweater give the poem a clear emotional anchor via detail. You don’t tell the reader how to feel, you unveil it via details. I particularly like how the domestic details carry the sense of absence. I favour poems with attention to detail. In yours, it keeps everything grounded and believable. I’ve mentioned detail often. It’s a weakness of mine. And you’ve added texture with ‘island of lunch’ and the stormcock image. It lifts the poem beyond the immediate scene.

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  22. Hey KIm.

    There are so many gems to pick and marvel at in this poem. Gorgeously poignnat and so sensorial. Love these lines:

    He’s taken love with him,
    screwed up in his pocket like a used tissue,

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  24. I felt that pain, a visceral reaction to your poem, Kim. [ love that we both referenced ‘sweaters’ .. LOL ] Thanks so much for leaving me a comment.

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  25. I love how the poem answers the question in the title – and that motif of the woolly jumper left behind! Oh, the torture of it. There’s a lot of people who can relate to this event 🤍 Also, how it’s written in couplets but the couple is no more! Wonderful work.

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  26. Tight honest work with sharp sensorious writing.

    I looked up ‘stormcock’, which I’m guessing is what I would call a weathercock (?) and it gave me information about Stormcock being the fifth Roy Harper album, which ties in nicely with ‘its lonely song’. 👍

    Great write Kim 👏

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