Why do I love poems?

Writing a love poem is an attempt at figuring out what humans have been struggling to figure out for thousands of years. It is trying to find the right words to describe an indescribable feeling, to reconcile the words in your head with the emotions in your heart. 

Love poetry is one of the oldest genres of poetry in the history of literature. From “Song of Solomon” to the sonnets of William Shakespeare, from the capital-R Romantics to the Instapoets Rupi Kaur and Atticus, there is a plethora of love poems out in the world. However, that makes it no less complicated to write one. 

First of all, you have to find someone to write the poem for, which is enough of a challenge in and of itself. After accomplishing that daunting feat, you have to think about how you feel about that person. How close are the two of you? How long have you been together? Are you ready to write them a poem? Are they ready to receive one? Do you like them or do you love them? 

This all depends on who you are, who the other person is and the nature of your relationship. This is probably the easiest part of the whole process, depending on how in touch you are with your feelings. 

Once you’ve figured out how you feel about this person, you need to decide how you want those feelings to come across in the poem. How serious do you want it to be? Do you want to make them laugh or cry? Maybe, both? How wholesome or sensual do you want the poem to be? Do you want to pour out the entirety of your heart and soul to this person?

Then, there’s the issue of poetic tradition. You have thousands of years of love poetry that was written before you ever even learned to hold a pen. On top of that, you are also surrounded and influenced by just as many years of love stories, not to mention generations of artwork and songs. 

Plus, there is the influence of real-life love that you’ve seen around you in the form of family members, friends, acquaintances and even strangers. How will your poem interact with all of this precedent? Will you build off of it? Will you borrow from it? 

I have a poetry professor who’s famously told me: “Always be on the lookout for what you can steal.”  Will you steal from the great writers of the past and present? Or will you modify the conventions and precedent that they’ve established? Or maybe you’ll reject it entirely?

You also have to consider your own poetic tradition, if you’ve written poetry previously. Do you want this poem to be like other poetry you’ve written? Or do you want to try something different? Have you written poems for this person before? What are they expecting you to write? Will you work within those expectations, or will you subvert them and give them something new?

Another crucial thing to keep in mind is that love poetry is meant to be understood. It is a gift for someone, after all. When you write a love poem for someone, they have to be able to comprehend it, otherwise, the meaning and impact are lost. 

If someone is confused by a love poem you’ve written for them, you cannot just claim that you’re being profound beyond mere mortal understanding, because they just may throw the poem in the trash can and delete your phone number from their contacts list. This is not to say that your love poem cannot be deep or complex, but it cannot be so deep and complex that your recipient cannot understand it. 

These are questions only you can answer. They are dependent entirely on you and your relationship. Ultimately, there is a reason why people have been writing poetry for the people they love for thousands of years; poetry is one of the best and most meaningful ways to express your feelings for another person. 

When you give someone a love poem, you are telling them, “I love you so much, I have placed myself in the company of generations of poets and wordsmiths. I have created words out of what I feel for you in my heart.”

Happy writing, and happy Valentine’s Day.

The Digital Age is booming. That means attentions are shrinking and focus is altering. With 140-character communication on Twitter, picture and visual postings on Pinterest, and classrooms shying away from difficult material in favor of easy reading and easy grades, poetry has become one of the most underutilized, and underestimated, mediums in modern culture.

(100 Poetic Forms for Poets.)

I think Phyllis Klein from Women’s Therapy Services said it best: “Turning to poetry, poetry gives rhythm to silence, light to darkness. In poetry we find the magic of metaphor, compactness of expression, use of the five senses, and simplicity or complexity of meaning in a few lines.”

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Re-create Your Poetry!

Revision doesn’t have to be a chore–something that should be done after the excitement of composing the first draft. Rather, it’s an extension of the creation process!

In the 48-minute tutorial video Re-creating Poetry: How to Revise Poems, poets will be inspired with several ways to re-create their poems with the help of seven revision filters that they can turn to again and again.

Click to continue.

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1. POETRY IS GOOD FOR DEVELOPMENTAL LEARNING

In child education, children’s verbal and written skills are somewhat underdeveloped. Poetry helps by teaching in rhythm, stringing words together with a beat helps cognitive understanding of words and where they fit. Additionally, it teaches children the art of creative expression, which most found highly lacking in the new-age educational landscape. In essence, poetry gives them a great tool for developing one’s self.

(20 Best Poems for Kids.)

2. POETRY IS GOOD FOR DEVELOPING SKILLS

Writing, speaking, and understanding can all be greatly influenced and nurtured by the use of poetry. Learning rules for writing, and then breaking them with poetry, can give writing alternative beauty. Speaking poetry aloud with its beat, rhythm, and rhyme can loosen the tongue and craft a firm foundation for verbal communication. Learning to understand poetry also gives the mental fortitude, as well as the drive, to understand written communication (an invaluable trait in business, from my perspective).

3. POETRY HELPS IMPROVE IDEAS

Have you ever sat there and not known what to write? Picking up poetry, reading through different excerpts from classic poets can blossom ideas you never knew existed. Reading and writing poetry makes you think of new ideas, but can also dramatically change the way you perceived old ones. It is a way to process experiences, visual descriptions, and emotions.

4. POETRY IS THERAPEUTIC FOR THE WRITER

Biblio/Poetry Therapy is a creative arts therapy using the written word to understand, and then communicate, feelings and thoughts. Poetry is typically short, but largely emotional. Writers get in touch with sentiments they might not have known they had until it was down on paper. Depression and anxiety are among the top two mental illnesses being treated with Biblio-therapy, and through poetry, one can start to understand the hindrances and blocks being formed around their mind. Expressing how one feels is difficult. I’ve found that poetry is one of the best outlets.

5. POETRY IS THERAPEUTIC FOR THE READER

For those who have a harder time expressing themselves, reading poetry can have a similar positive effect as writing it. Reading poetry allows one to see into the soul of another person, see what is weighing on their minds and on their hearts, and can open doors to feelings that are sometimes suppressed until that door is opened. Reading can shine a light on all those dark and hidden crevices of the heart and mind once thought permanently closed off to the world.

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Play with poetic forms!

Poetic forms are fun poetic games, and this digital guide collects more than 100 poetic forms, including more established poetic forms (like sestinas and sonnets) and newer invented forms (like golden shovels and fibs).

Click to continue.

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6. POETRY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF WORDS THEMSELVES

By design, poetry is broken into short, but strategic sentences. By doing so, writing and reading poetry makes one understand the significance of every single word and their placement. Sometimes, without a single word, it can change the entire rhythm and meaning of the poem itself. Writing poetry forces the person to consider, and reconsider, each piece and length of their verses. In poetry, words are magic, moods, depth, and difficult. One gains the utmost appreciation for them when handling delicate sentence structures provided in poetry pieces.

7. POETRY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND PEOPLE

One of the hardships of the current age is the ability to understand one another. Miscommunication and misunderstandings lead to mass amounts of frustration. Reading and writing poetry actually gives people the improved ability to understand others. From a writer’s prospective, you have to be able to convey the true nature of your writing to an unknown reader. That means diving deep into what parts you want them to understand, what you want them to feel, and what to take home with them that will resonate long after reading. For a reader of poetry, it gives you the patience to look into someone else’s mind and cultivate empathy for another person. Both conveying personal opinion and the ability to empathize are tantamount to respectable communication.

(Empathy vs. Sympathy vs. Apathy.)

8. POETRY HELPS YOU UNDERSTAND YOURSELF

Ever felt out of place? Have you ever wondered why you are thinking or feeling a certain way? Ever been frustrated because your friends or partners couldn’t ever possibly understand you because you don’t even understand what is going through your head? I have found that the best way to grasp internal turmoil is to write poetry. It slows the world down around you. It streamlines your thoughts to short, direct sentences, while soothing the anxiety out of your body with the lyrical style. It makes you think. It puts a spotlight on what the issues might be and forces you to logically and methodically answer to it. Poetry can give you insights into yourself that you never knew existed but always wanted to understand. There is no greater sadness than not knowing one’s self-worth, but there is no greater power than complete understanding of one’s identity. Poetry can give you that power.