Love-gone-bad poetry?

Have him/her read a book of music lyrics. "Why'd Ya Do It" by Marianne Faithfull is brutal, agonized, and pissed.

Some of the entries in the Spoon River Anthology i seem to recall had epitaphs from folks who had been hurt by love. Might check into it. Much of it appears online.

I'll try to think of some real poetry if I can.

You might want to check out Edward Arlington Robinson's *Eros Turannos*, or Edna St. Vincent Millay's sonnet beginning "I being born a woman, and distressed.." or Langston Hughes' short poem beginning "Love is a wild wonder..."

Song lyrics and modern poetry will probably be under copyright, and cannot be used without permission. Lyrics in particular are very expensive to quote -- a line or two can cost thousands of dollars, depending on the song.

Skip all the hassle and go for something in the public domain. Copyright in the US is currently the author's life plus seventy years, so realistically, you're looking at poetry from the 19th century and earlier.

Google for "poetry love gone wrong" (without the quotes) and you'll get 400,000+ hits. You should be able to find something there that suits.

Cheers.

I don't know about going "sour," exactly, but Robert Browning's "Porphyria's Lover" is disturbing as all hell. See if that's what you're looking for: http://www.englishverse.com/poems/porphyrias_lover

Bunny was twelve; I was innocent eleven.
Always thought older women were heaven.

It was love-gone-bad, love that soured.
Bunny had a cold, yet I was no coward.

But when you kiss Bunny,
And her nose is runny,

Don’t think it’s honey,
’Cause it’s snot.

You might also check out George Meredith's *Modern love*, which is old enough to be in the public domain, I think (he died in 1909) and definitely a tale of love gone bad.
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/meredi02.html