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Why I Don’t Write About Love: A Poem
A poem, a little commentary and an exercise for you to try
Some of us have a feel for death
the separation of bone and flesh
with the warm blood
in puddles
and everything on the edge
but not quite spilling.
Some of us hear death speaking
he only shouts
occasionally.
Some of us like the thought of death
waiting patiently
for the moment when
it’s all too
much.
Some of us think death’s a good
subject for
poems.
This poem came from a poetry workshop, where the other members complained that I never wrote any love poems, so I went home and wrote this! It was initially a reaction, then it felt ironic, and then finally it seemed to be a perspective on not feeling afraid of death (but maybe it also says something about love after all).
Poetry writing exercise — take a few moments to look back over a number of poems you have written. Is there a common theme or perspective in some or many of them? What is it? Now try to write a poem in which you deliberately write the opposite in some way, e.g. if you write a lot of love poems, try one about hate; if you write a lot of landscape poems, try writing one about a person. Don’t think about it too much in the first draft, simply respond to your own perceptions.
