Celeste Gunnell-Joyce. Supermarket Love

O my love is like a red, red rose—  

it was on sale at Super C.  

I saw it at the entrance and it looked  

so sweet to me.  

They fly them from the Netherlands—  

colour them crimson  

under heated glass. 

It was on sale at Super C  

and everyone was flocking.  

I took it home.

Still wrapped in cellophane,   

it looked like all the roses on TV.  

Unwrapped and placed in water 

it smelled so sweet to me.  

They spray them all with

SuperScent,

you see.

My love was like that red, red rose.  

Its perfume faded and I blamed myself—

it looked like all the roses 

on TV.

But roses were never coloured red,

to me.

Celeste Gunnell-Joyce has been writing since she learned to read. She followed her love of words to McGill, where she studies Theatre and Literature. She loves to play with language and form in her writing in order to explore the themes of home, love and identity.