Love: one of the most universal subjects for a poem. A poet can expound, at great length, upon the reasons the beloved is loved. Metaphor and simile are showered upon the admired object.
But my favorite love poems are those that never mention love.
They might not even seem to like the person they’re talking about; or they might come across as ambivalent.
Yet I am left with an impression of love; love that is felt and not described.
A few days ago, I “discovered” the work of Billy Collins in an anthology. His poem “Litany” spoke to me this way, so strongly that I added it to my handcopied collection. He begins a series of metaphors describing his subject:
You are the bread and the knife,
the crystal goblet and the wine.
You are…
But then he changes gears and starts with:
However, you are not… and writes some of these;
…and you are certainly not the pine-scented air.
There is just no way that you are the pine-scented air.
He also writes some I am metaphors in contrast; but ends with
…But don’t worry, I’m not the bread and the knife.
You are still the bread and the knife…
I was astonished to find that not everyone feels the love soaking this poem. Look it up; read it; what do you think? Can you see love in a poem that is not full of compliments; that points out what the object of love is not?
Lori Lynne Armstrong 