I know it's not Valentine's Day, but it's never too early to start planning the perfect poem for someone special. Hopefully this won't turn into a corny lesson on writing Valentine's rhymes because, well, it's July. But really, love isn't restricted to any holiday, so love poems shouldn't be either.
Before I write this, I have to make a confession. I'm sixteen, I've only dated one guy ever, I've never actually had my heartbroken and I'm probably very naive. But hey, a little optimism and innocence is always good. I was inspired to write this entry because I was inspired to write a poem. I was walking along in a grassy square and suddenly a few lines popped into my head. I scrambled in my purse to find a program from a dance performance and a pen, stopped at a bench, and began to write. Whenever I've tried to write a love poem it never worked. This is the first time I ever have, but it means more to me than any poem I've ever written. I can't say it's the best one I've ever written, and the more I read it the less confident I am about it. But I didn't write it to impress anyone with my poetic genius, I wrote it to make one person in the world smile, and I did.
Origami
You go through life tucking in corners
Making the world neat as you want it to be
You tuck in the corners of your heart
So I can fit inside cozily.
As much as I love the warm home you make
I can't control my bony elbows and knees
I poke you and jab you without ever knowing
I'm hurting you where you feel it most painfully.
But as you make beds with the sheets folded just so
And I leave my blankets a tangled mess
There's room for me to tuck in a corner here or there, although
There is also room to unfold your origami heart
and let the world you've so neatly tucked away come through.
With care you calm the edges that flare inside of me
and tuck your own pain and fear inside
So I must crawl inside of you to bring the light you need
to read your own heart by.
I have you and you me,
a bed only half made, one side tucked in
the other burst, my feet hang free
Somehow we both sleep comfortably
your origami heart and me.
I've never shared my writing online before, so all I can say is please don't plagiarize. This poem was written for one person and fits that person perfectly, it's not meant for anyone but him. I'm only putting it on here to show that sometimes love can be the best inspiration, but don't try to force it. A few months ago I tried writing a love poem, and I proudly showed it to my boyfriend. He told me it was good, but he seemed embarrassed. When I asked what was wrong he said, ''I don't get it.'' That was because I got so lost trying to make good metaphors that I forgot to make it much of a poem at all.
But as I said, I'm no expert on love. So let's call in the experts! The Poetry Foundation and later Huffington Post published the same interviews with a series of poets on how to write love poems without dipping too far into the cliche and vague and trite. Maybe the poem I wrote is all three of those things, but it feels deeply true to me, and it is far simpler than what I have tried to write before, which I think reveals its trueness; I had no need to make it prettier with more extensive metaphors.
Anyway, here is some advice from experienced poets on how to write about love without sounding like a Hallmark Card (also, read their poetry. It's good.):
- Adrian Blevins said rather intensely that ''bad love poetry is bad because it is trite. Triteness is bad because it’s untrue, and untrueness is bad because it is a waste of time and energy and, somehow, unjust.'' Her love poem "The Way She Figured He Figured It" is certainly not trite. Maybe I'm just a trite person, or naive, but it felt very unromantic to me. I do agree with her that being trite is untrue, but it's a difficult thing to avoid though because, as the poet Craig Arnold said, "what is a cliche, if not a poem that won?"
- Rebecca Hoogs advocates living on the edge, saying ''a good love poem lives in a tense state. If there’s no tension in the love, there’s no tension in the poem. 'I love you, you’re perfect,' no matter how prettily said, is boring.''
- And lastly, Craig Arnold. What he said touched me the most, I think because it is the most love-y. His poem "Bird-Understander'' is simply beautiful. He said he wants his poetry to say, '''Listen, what you said to me, it’s already poetry, better than anything I could write, and it would make me happy simply to have you see that.'''
Of course, if you really need a poem pronto (for example, when it's seven hours and not seven months until Valentine's Day) you can always use the simple steps provided on wikiHow such as "be brave'', ''brainstorm'' and ''refine presentation (optional).'' Maybe this won't result in anything groundbreaking or revolutionary, but does that really matter? The more I read love poems and think about them, the more I pick at my own. I could have been less cliche, I shouldn't have made it rhyme. But what is the point of love poetry anyway? I think there are two purposes. One is to capture a complex, indescribable, painful, and beautiful emotion. My favorite love quote is from the movie Stardust: ''I know that love is unconditional. But I also know that it can be unpredictable, unexpected, uncontrollable, unbearable and strangely easy to mistake for loathing.'' Love isn't easy, so a love poem shouldn't be easy either. But for anyone out there who is trying to make someone feel special and loved, as long as you are as brave and honest as you can be, a few too many adjectives will be quickly forgiven.
For more love interviews, poems, and quotes:
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