After 116 years as America’s confectionery currency of affection, Sweethearts (love u) are dead . . . [Their] maker, the New England Confectionery Company . . . was sold in a bankruptcy auction in May.
—the Washington Post, February 8, 2019
Sweethearts, you’re lost to bankruptcy,
gone with the flavors we once loved—
let’s kiss my pet say yes love bug
Concrete hearts, seductive candy,
pastel hints we scattered freely—
girl power soul mate let’s ride what’s up?
Hoard all the boxes! Bankruptcy
robs us of ways to say we loved—
r u shy? no way fax me text me—
Mottos and murmurs disapproved
vanish from shelves, sly words removed . . .
my treat tell me how sweet pea ask me
Tokens of ardor in bankruptcy,
you were the proof that, once, we loved.