Sadly, the scheduled Octopus Mating has been cancelled--but it's still a Happy Day.

Merry is calling today "Single Awareness Day."  Is that typical high school or what?  I love and relate to this sentiment, since I generally spent high school Valentine's Days receiving single carnations from girl friends and ranting about how clueless and stupid boys were.

Though Mer does not have a boyfriend (very okay with her parents), she does have a sweet Daddy, who every Valentine's Day Eve, buys his daughters flower and candy and arranges them on their bedside tables.  The first thing I heard when the girls awoke this morning was, "Daddy's still here!"  (He usually leaves quite early for work), and then the thumping of feet as the girls ran downstairs to pile into his arms.  So I've got a pretty good Valentine, I dare say--a wonder, a man among millions.  It's been twenty years since I first met Martin and I am fortunate enough to say that he is still my favorite person in the all the world.  Okay, okay, enough of that, right?  Let's move on with the substance of this post, which is. . . .

Okay, it's love. Love POETRY.

For the last couple days I've been planning an after-school poetry workshop with high school students, so I've actually had the time to sit amongst a lot of fantastic poets. And there's some good love poetry out there, mark my words. The Poetry Foundation has made it easy for you to find your favorite. If you're looking for something to do tonight, pop a cork and queue up the poems--whether you're reading or listening, they're very well worth your while.

Here are some of my favorites:

To those of you who mark Valentine's Day with a wry smile, I cannot advise you enough to listen to this poem by Tony Hoagland: "A Romantic Moment". Related: The Seattle Aquarium cancelled its Valentine's Day event--octupus mating--because they were afraid that once the deed was done, the male would eat the female, which is a downer on a day of romance. CNN headline reads: SEATTLE AQUARIUM CANCELS OCTOPUS MATING SESSION OVER CANNIBALISM FEARS. This is good news for both the female octopuses out there and for the male, Kong, who will get to live a little longer (since male octopuses kick the bucket in the afterglow).

The octopus story relates to the fantastic Tony Hoagland poem. Now do you want to listen? Here's your last chance. Click HERE.

Switching gears now--

When I asked Martin for his favorite love poem, he mentioned this one first, and I think it's just  tender, perfect:

To Dorothy

Marvin Bell, 1937

You are not beautiful, exactly.
You are beautiful, inexactly.
You let a weed grow by the mulberry
and a mulberry grow by the house.
. . . .

Read the rest here. 

Related to that one (category: Poems you would love to receive from your partner), and also selected by the National Poetry Foundation, is Bird-Understander by Craig Arnold--you should read the poem here.

I just stumbled on this poem yesterday--not exactly a Valentine's Day poem, but wonderful--by Jimmy Santiago Baca:

I Am Offering This Poem

Jimmy Santiago Baca


I am offering this poem to you,

since I have nothing else to give.

Keep it like a warm coat

when winter comes to cover you,

or like a pair of thick socks

the cold cannot bite through. . . .



Read more here.



And no, I did not write my own love poem.  I know to approach such things with fear and trembling--not love, love poems.  They can so easily be, by their nature, saccharine, and that's what makes the poems, above, so exceptional. 



Someday I'll attempt that daunting feat, but not today.  Today I am going to go get my hair cut.  Nothing says "love" like split ends on the floor.



Happy Valentine's Day!