How to write freeform poetry for your crush or spouse this Valentine’s
Valentine’s is that season where everyone gets gifts for their lovers and while some scoff at the idea of a special day of love in a year containing 364 other days — some even going as far as saying that everyday is Valentine’s(not true duuurrhh, did he die everyday?) — I happen to think that having a yearly rhythm of expressing love and giving gifts peculiar to lovers alone is a beautiful way to prolong the martyr’s remembrance.
Tradition has it that Saint Valentine’s was killed for love. He, being a priest, was not given to romance himself, but he sacrificed his life by conducting marriages for Roman soldiers who were bound by the rules of the cavalry to not marry. This led to his being arrested and put to death by the Roman authorities. I think that fewer expressions could honour the martyr’s memory than an evening of romance shared between two lovers within acceptable virtuous boundaries. In plain english, Valentine’s is so not the time for premarital sex and unfettered debauchery you nasty sinners! But I do believe that it is a holiday worthy of all celebration.
Perhaps it is finally your season. You are not single this time and you have gotten a special gift for your lover. God finally graced you with a person to receive all the love in your heart and after doing careful research, you are quite confident that the gift you got them would make them very happy. But for some reason, you cannot get past this nagging feeling that you have not fully expressed your love. Maybe they’re a lover of poetry, but you think poetry is difficult, and you just don’t get that stuff. And now, you’re here, wondering if there is a way out. Is there some sort of guide that could help you get all the mush inside you into flowing ink so you can inscribe it in a text or on a piece paper? Worry no more my beloved ‘beloving’ friend! I am here for you. And I am here to teach you how to write simple poetry to your lover this Valentine’s.
Most people don’t get poetry because it seems like this mix of words that hardly makes any sense, not to mention that the other people who seem to get it are all weird and wacko and you are just quite wary of being like them. Nobody wants to be the philosophical hippie uncle who smokes cigarettes for breakfast and does not believe in God; has no known friends and is quite convinced that we are all being spied by the government — or any other stereotypes about poets that you have been exposed to. We all want to be normal and keep our marbles.
The first thing you should know is that your reluctance and concern is very valid, but so are your feelings for your significant other and you ought to express them.
However, people come in different flavours and though some flavours are sharper than others, we ought to learn to appreciate these flavours all the same. Since they are sharp though, we can enjoy them in little doses. While your poetic uncle might be the weirdest person in the world to you right now, I make bold to say that there are a few things you could learn from him that will help you a great deal in your quest to express the magnitude of your feelings to your significant other.
Firstly, poetic people are adept observers. They know how to detach from the people around them and notice things that other people filter out. They also know how to ascribe importance to mundane things. A poetic person can talk about a wheelbarrow and make you start to think deeply about life. Here, take a look at William Carlos William’s Poem, The Red Wheelbarrow:
so much depends upon a red wheel barrow glazed with rain water beside the white chickens
A wet wheelbarrow beside white chickens gives you a sense of something ordinary, yet so dependable. You can count on a wheelbarrow to always be there to help you carry your stuff; all you have to do is push. Think about all the things you could do with a wheelbarrow and see how with very few words, William Carlos has made you start to meditate on all the reliable things in your life. When writing a freeform poem for your lover, you should ask yourself the following question:
What do I want my lover to really understand when they are done reading this?
Try writing that down. For the sake of this article, let us say that I want my lover to understand that they are really loved and really cherished. I will start my poem like this:
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
Another thing most poets are good at is comparison. They know how to compare things and contrast them. In come the literary tools! (or devices, if you are trying to be official lol). Literary devices are expressions used by writers to paint vivid pictures of what they are trying to say with only a few words.
Now, do you remember when I said that poets know how to ascribe importance to mundane things? They do so using literary devices. There are over a hundred literary devices, but Valentine’s is only less than 48 hours away, we don’t have much time to go over them. Most literary devices try to do any of the following:
- Point out how similar things are
- Point out how different things are
There is something about pointing stuff like that out that makes what you are saying feel more sincere and real. Now, to achieve this, we usually try to move from the known to the unknown. As I earlier said, poets are known to be really great observers. Observe the things around you; the happenings in your life, try to put them down somewhere. When you are writing that piece of poetry for your boo, you would need those things.
For the sake of this article, I will write down three things:
There is this dude outside my house,
he makes really nice snacks
and he sells a whole lot of them
When the power goes out
The sun from out my window
Lights up my room, and gives me morale
Arsenal never wins the matches
But my friend loves them
He is so loyal to them
Welldone! Your poem is already forming, and it is bound to get even better. Remember to keep your language simple and sweet. You want to wow your lover, not confuse them.
Now, you should start to think about those things you have observed. In what ways are they similar to what you feel about your spouse? In what ways are they different? For the sake of this article, let us draw up a mix of comparisons and differences.
My next verses will go like this:
If all you want out of life
Are really nice snacks
I will make you a whole lot of them
When you are sad
And your joy goes out
I will light up your heart, I’ll be your morale
You mean more to me
Than this struggling club
Means to my friend
Another thing poets try to do is advance a reason for everything. In your Valentine’s poem, your next couple of lines should reasons for each comparison you made in the last segment. Remember, simple does it.
My reasons are in the next couple of lines:
Because I love you deeply
And I cherish you fully
Because I love you dearly
I want to see you happy
You have won my heart
I am loyal to you
And now! The fun part. We will arrange each segment into a pattern! Think about it like you are stacking stuff in a shelf. You want to keep related things together so that they don’t get mixed up. So let us stack your poem.
For the beginning part, throw in that thing that you want them to understand:
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
Next, throw in one observation, one comparison and one reason you have given. Make sure they are related in meaning like this:
There is this dude outside my house,
he makes really nice snacks
and he sells a whole lot of them
If all you want out of life
Are really nice snacks
I will make you a whole lot of them
Because I love you deeply
And I cherish you fully
Now throw it all together and see how it reads.
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
There is this dude outside my house,
he makes really nice snacks
and he sells a whole lot of them
If all you want out of life
Are really nice snacks
I will make you a whole lot of them
Because I love you deeply
And I cherish you fully
Look at that! If this is all you have, you have written a beautiful poem. Let us repeat this pattern for everything, feel free to add the first verse as a sort of refrain, it is allowed. Don’t forget to give it a title.
Here’s our poem’s final look:
Know you are loved
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
There is this dude outside my house,
he makes really nice snacks
and he sells a whole lot of them
If all you want out of life
Are really nice snacks
I will make you a whole lot of them
Because I love you deeply
And I cherish you fully
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
When the power goes out
The sun from out my window
Lights up my room, and gives me morale
When you are sad
And your joy goes out
I will light up your heart, I’ll be your morale
Because I love you dearly
I want to see you happy
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
Arsenal never wins the matches
But my friend loves them
He is so loyal to them
You mean more to me
Than this struggling club
Means to my friend
You have won my heart
I am loyal to you
When you are done reading this,
You will know you are loved
You will know you are cherished.
And there you have it! You lovely Val’s day poem. If you are shy about it, you could just write and share with me. If it falls flat, it just means your lover has no poetic bone in their body, in which case, what are you doing here??? Get to observing them and understanding their primary love language already!
Remember, love is a two-way street and you, my friend, are already half-way there. There is no shame in doing anything for love because all is fair in love and war. Now go and poet away!
