Valentine's - A Lonely Day For Cat Ladies Everywhere

In Margaret Atwood's poem "February", the speaker says, "it's love that does us in". This seems paradoxical in the sense that the popular view of love is that it is almost necessary to sustain life. Still, in this poem, I believe the speaker is confused as to what love is. She talks about STDs and things of that nature that do not define love. Love is not equivalent to sex, so the word "love" in this sense cannot be taken literally. She is also apparently very bitter at the prospect of being "valentineless" during Valentine's. This is natural, but she seems especially depressed by the thought. And again, the source of her agony is a direct correlation to the number of cats she keeps at her house.