How to Write Love Poetry

I have been fortunate enough to write love poetry for several of the women I've had affections for during high school, college and thereafter. I think that expressing yourself in the form of verse can be really special for the right kind of person. I've had extremely positive reactions as a result of love poetry and I've had some less than stellar ones. Writing love poetry doesn't work for every situation and here are a few of my tips and tricks when it comes to how to write love poetry.

1. Write in a Familiar Style

If you've never written a poem before and you try to write love poetry, it's probably going to be pretty bad. If the poem is for a partner you've been with for a while, that won't matter. If you're writing it to try to impress the girl, that might not be the best way to break into the poetry world. Practice by becoming familiar with a style like a sonnet or iambic pentameter rhyming couplets. I wrote my first poem for a girl in high school after studying Shakespeare. I was familiar with the form and while it wasn't the best sidewalk chalk driveway poem ever written, it helped that I wasn't a complete novice when it came to verse.

2. A Case By Case Basis

Not every potential partner is going to respond well to poetry. The person needs to be a bit of a romantic to respond well to your attempts to write love poetry. If you're trying to get up with the most popular girl in school and the only verses she pays attention to have "explicit lyrics," you might want to hold your pages back. I wrote some love poems to girls I had crushes on in college and the reason they worked (at least in part) was because these girls were creative types. I imagine they wouldn't have worked as well with a future business leader of America.

3. Set It and Forget It

I remember being so scared after I gave the poems to my crushes. I thought that maybe the poem wasn't enough or that maybe I'd gone to far. If you write love poetry, the best thing to do after you've given it is to let it work its magic. I once wrote a love poem for a girl and barely got a reaction for weeks. Unexpectedly, she quoted a line back to me in a phone message and within a week we were dating. In another situation, I didn't receive as positive reaction but I received a respectful poem in reply to my poem. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it wouldn't have happened it I freaked out and apologized for the poem or tried to write something else really quickly.

I know it can be scary when you write a love poem for someone you really care about, but if you have practice, give it to the write person and let it work it's magic, you have a much better chance of getting the best result possible: requited love! 

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