Poem: A Dance on Valentine's Day.

A poem to celebrate Valentine's Day, or you know, the idea of it.

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

Edit to add: I wrote this piece before my impromptu poetry prompt post, so I’m not sure anymore if I needed to explain what a sonnet is. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it regardless.

It’s Valentine’s Day— a holiday which I have a complicated relationship with. On one hand, I think it’s fun and cute. You go on a date with someone, be all romantic, and get them flowers and chocolate.

But on the other hand, it’s a capitalist cash-grab, designed to only really benefit corporate entities.

Also, more often than not, I’m usually alone for the holiday. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Though it can still feel depressing. I try to cope with this by not thinking about it— whoops, didn’t do a good job at that this time, haha.

Maybe instead, I could just write about the holiday, and make a cute little story? I like that idea, feels fun, seems fresh. Maybe you’d like it too? Well, here it is below. Let me know what you think of it. Admittedly, I’m actually very proud of how it turned out!

Love rises, filling the air, cradling hearts–
Over flowers, dinner, and tenderness. 
Newly coupled, dancing as a song starts,
Swaying in sync, together: effortless.
A smile, a blush, they stop to admire: 
His youthful grin and gentle affection;
The other’s warmth, a passionate fire. 
Their lips meet, forming this connection. 
As night falls asleep, neither can deny,
This memory will live until they die. 

Throughout the past month or so— as I’ve been working on my upcoming poetry book, Through all the Colors— I’ve been experimenting with variating forms. Sonnets (like the poem above), Odes, Haikus, and so much more.

And doing so has been really beneficial for my poetry, I’d say. I used to be afraid of taking the time to experiment like this. However, there’s something so beautiful about all these different writing styles. So, I’m grateful I’m finally taking the time to appreciate them.

As I mentioned before, this poem is a Sonnet. Maybe you picked up on that as you were reading, or you’re learning it for the first time now. Either way and carrying on, one of the rules for a Sonnet is to keep each line ten syllables long.

Syllables are essentially how you sound out words as you pronounce them. For example, the word Monkey can be broken up into two syllables, since its pronunciation is: muhng·kee.

Some of my recommendations for if you want to write your own sonnet: 1) Have RhymeZone pulled up. 2) use a syllable counter for any words you’re unsure about. And 3) Don’t be afraid to experiment or take your time writing the piece. Sonnets can be difficult to write.

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But why am I talking about this? Mainly to help explain the process I took in order to write the poem. Since I had to be mindful of the syllable count, I had to carefully lay out the words I wished to use in the poem. Which meant also being careful about how I chose to convey the poem’s message.

Another rule to follow as you write a Sonnet is its rhyme structure, which for this poem I used a Shakespearean structure. Meaning, three quatrains (sets of four lines), and one couplet (set of two lines) to finish the poem off.

ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

These rules will have you racking your brain and searching for synonyms or rhymes like no one’s business. But it’s so fulfilling to watch the poem come together.

Though perhaps, it’s not for everyone, and that’s okay. You don’t need to write one kind of poem or another to be a good writer. However, I do think taking some time to experiment can be a really enlightening experience.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to read through this piece. I hope you enjoyed it, and please, feel free to let me know what you think! Did you like the poem, and what did you think of the educational tidbits? Anyway, buh-bye now xoxo.