nicely written. good rhythm. i liked your poem very much..

I would tear something apart if it can be shredded. This is a well written poem and lemme explain why..

1. Interesting title.
2. Internal logic: The situation the subject of your poems has been going through is faced by everyone in their everyday life. Often we find ourselves fighting with the entire world hoping for the best and depending too much on that hope; not planning for a Plan B. We hope that change will come soon and that you will emerge victorious but the soon never seem to some. I once read a small jargon type poem posted here.. lemme see if i can find the lines i'm looking for.. Well.. i searched but could not find those exact lines but i bet it was there in this post http://poemsnprose.com/node/542 . I think the author changed it a bit.
3. Use of language: Tough I'm no one to declare this but since I thankfully get to live in a democracy I'll say it anyway. Modern poets with modern though seem to go a little overboard with the use of language. Though your thoughts and ideas are modern your language use is sober.

Respectfully,
Amartya

This is the poem to match your icon, sir.

Your feelings (or the poetic persona you are giving expression to) is stuck, but I think what you are stuck about goes deeper than an act of the will that blocks your notion of 'love'.

You have a keen mind and the short lines do you service because you can economically lay out the problem. You build the tension about your crisis well, and to me it's clear that the battle is internal, in your mind. You stoically admit to being at peace with your fate but then unhappy with giving up...I just think that your conclusion about being unwilling to love might be more that you were rejected by someone you had strong feelings for...

Of much greater interest to me is the thought that your present block is from deeper or more diverse reasons than unrequited love, or perhaps in your poem's explanation, your unwillingness to love. I've stated elsewhere that I'm usually not interested in 'you don't love me and it's your loss bitch' verses. Your poem is not that. So it intrigues.

As to form, You ending would have been stronger to me if the lines had been as curt, as tight as the opening, and if the conclusion was more nuanced.

I would stay away from phrases about your heart and think some concrete, more personally revealing or lines: concrete, strange, mysterious almost inexplicable but more specifically you rather than the oft quoted heart and will. Something akin to Dickinson's 'zero at the bone'...

You are hurting, and as a poet, you need to delve into the hurt to bring out your specific experience of it that speaks to your take on it..."that will help you to feel different" Just as you effectively referred to the scuff on your shoe, re-frame the thought and words at the end. I might be totally off, but I think it at least deserves a stronger expression than where your will is locked up.

I also think other readers will not agree with my assessment. You perhaps will find others in love with your last line and identify with your where love starts idea. Not me. But then, I'm a 66 year old baldy living alone for the present: not bitter nor unhappy but also not concerned about relationships (I do have many friends) nor about the love you speak of in your poem.

You are ready for change, and I think it will come from a focus on the world outside of your mind/head and less on the internal pain...I'm not diminishing the anguish, but given your passion, talent and intelligence, I would like to see what you will see, think and do as you commit and focus, at least in your poetry, on 'the other'.

Keep writing. And re-writing.