The poems below are original, written for this collection. Use a whole poem or choose a stanza that says what you mean.
Short Love Poems for a Card or Text
-
First Call
Before I tell the story,
before I find the words,
I know whose voice I want to hear
on the other end.
Something good has happened.
My first thought is you. -
Room for Two
I used to make my weekend plans
and see what I could do.
Now even on an empty page,
I leave some space for you. -
Ordinary Tuesday
Ordinary Tuesday,
nothing planned,
and still my favorite part
was holding your hand. -
Across the Room
We’ve been talking
to different people
for nearly an hour.
You glance across the room;
I lift my hand.
Our conversation
hasn’t stopped. -
Mirror Note
A note for your mirror:
You look good today.
You looked good yesterday.
I’ll check again tomorrow. -
On the Envelope
Your name,
written on an envelope,
ought to look
like any other name.
Yet here I am,
taking my time
over every letter. -
After Work
The day has used
most of my words.
You sit beside me,
and for a while
we watch the evening
gather at the window.
I still have these three left:
I love you. -
Passenger Seat
My favorite place
isn’t marked on any map:
it’s beside you,
the windows open,
that song coming on.
You miss the same word every time.
I wait for it,
already smiling.
Love Poems for Someone New
-
Notification
My phone lights up.
I finish what I’m doing.
That’s the plan, at least.
Then I see your name
and lose all interest
in being sensible
for another minute. -
A Handful of Dinners
We’ve only had a handful of dinners,
but I already know
how you like your pizza,
which jokes will make you groan,
and that I’d like to learn the rest. -
Closing Time
I didn’t know
how much I would like you
until the restaurant closed
around our conversation.
Chairs lifted onto tables,
lights turned low,
and still another thing
I wanted to ask. -
At This Pace
We walk slowly
toward the place
we’ll say goodbye,
finding one more thing
to say at every corner.
I like this pace.
Enough time to notice you.
Enough of you
to want another walk. -
Not Yet
I’m not saying it yet.
I’m only saying
the word has been waiting
on the tip of my tongue
every time you leave
and every time you call. -
Since Thursday
You asked what I was smiling about.
I said nothing.
It was you.
It’s been you since Thursday.
Love Poems for Your Husband or Longtime Partner
-
Year Something
We’ve stopped counting the years
the way we used to,
but I still count on you
the way I always have. -
Still News
You know the face I make
before I make it.
You know the song
I’ll skip.
And knowing all that,
you still look at me
like I’m news. -
The Porch Light
At first, I watched the window
for your car.
Now you leave the porch light on
when I’ll be getting home late.
That steady yellow circle
on the steps
is one more way
I know your love. -
Another Piece of You
You come home full of a story
I wasn’t there to see.
I pull my chair a little closer.
You begin with the best part,
laugh, go back to the beginning.
All these years,
and I still like
being introduced
to another piece of you. -
What We Built
We built this life
by making room:
your plans beside my plans,
your old chair by the window,
my picture on the wall.
Some things fit at once.
Some took rearranging.
I look around
and see us everywhere. -
How Ours Sounds
Some love is loud.
Ours sounds like
“Did you eat?”
and “Text me when you land”
and “I saved you the last one.”
I wouldn’t trade it
for a symphony. -
The Ending
We disagree about the ending.
You say hopeful;
I say sad.
For half the walk home,
we make our cases.
You remember a line I missed.
I remind you of the opening scene.
By our door,
I’m still unconvinced.
You’re still holding my hand. -
When We’re Old
When we’re old
and telling our stories twice,
I hope you tell the one
about how we met,
wrong in all the usual places,
and I correct you,
and we both laugh
like it’s the first time.
Funny Love Poems for Him
-
The Good Plates
I set the table
with the good plates.
You arrived
with takeout in a bag.
We put it on the good plates.
A very successful
candlelit dinner. -
More Than
I love you more than weekends.
I love you more than naps.
I love you more than finding cash
in last year’s coat. Perhaps. -
Extra Salt
You said you weren’t hungry,
then reached across for fries.
I ordered us a larger size.
Consider that
a love poem
with extra salt. -
Art Appreciation
At the museum,
you asked which one I’d take home.
I looked at you.
You said, “The paintings.”
I stand by my answer. -
One More Aisle
You promised just one aisle.
That was three aisles ago.
You’re holding up another book;
I’m supposed to say it’s time.
Read me the first page.
I’m in no hurry
to be anywhere else. -
Your Poem
You rhymed “dear” with “here”
three times
in the same poem.
I saved it.
I’m a very biased critic
where you’re concerned. -
Formal Complaint
You winked across the table.
I lost my place
in a very serious story.
I’d like to lodge a complaint:
you remain distracting
after all this time.
Love Poems for When You’re Apart
-
Same Page
I stopped at the place
we agreed to stop,
though the next chapter
was right there waiting.
Tomorrow you’ll call,
argue for your favorite character,
and make me defend mine.
The book lies open
on two distant tables.
I like knowing
we’re turning the same page. -
Two Clocks
I keep two clocks in my head:
the one where I am
and the one where you are.
Right now yours says morning.
Good morning, love. -
Placeholder
Your hoodie is holding your spot
on the couch
until you come home.
It’s doing an okay job.
You’ll do better. -
Countdown
Eleven days.
Ten if I don’t count today.
Nine if I sleep in.
I’m planning to sleep in. -
Frozen Screen
Frozen mid-smile,
you look as if
you’re keeping a good thought
to yourself.
Then the picture moves,
and you finish saying
you miss me.
I was just about
to say that, too. -
Almost You
I’d know your laugh
through a wall,
down a stairwell,
under the noise of a crowded room.
Here, I keep hearing
almost-you:
a stranger at the station,
a voice outside.
I miss the moment
when I turn
and it is.
Love Poems for the Man You Admire
-
The Unfinished Plan
Tell me the plan
in all its unfinished pieces.
I’ll sit beside you
while you spread them out.
I love the man
who lights up talking
about something
he hasn’t made yet. -
What You Don’t Mention
You told me how your day went:
the late bus,
the meeting that ran long.
You left out the part
where you stayed behind
to help someone else.
I heard about it later.
Love, that sounds like you. -
When I Tell You
When I tell you
what I want to try,
you ask when I will start.
You make my hope
sound possible,
a thing with a day and time.
I love you
for listening so closely
to the person
I’m still becoming. -
Another Reason
You said, “You’re right,”
without turning the words
into a favor.
Then you asked
what you could do differently.
I had come ready
with another argument.
Instead, I found
another reason
to love you. -
Your Joy
I love the way
you rise out of your chair
when your team scores,
explaining the play
to anyone who’ll listen.
I haven’t learned
all the rules.
I do know joy
when I see it
on your face.
Love Poems for Birthdays, Anniversaries, and Valentine’s Day
-
Birthday
Another year of you
is the best present
I didn’t have to wrap.
Happy birthday
to my favorite person to celebrate.I hope the year ahead
has room for what you want,
and that I get to see
your face when it arrives. -
Anniversary
The date returns,
dressed in a different year.
We bring new stories
to the same remembered beginning.
I look across the table,
glad of who we were,
in love with who you are,
and curious about
who we’ll be next. -
Valentine’s Day
They sell hearts in every aisle today,
red foil and pink cellophane.
Not one of them comes close
to the one you give me
every ordinary day. -
For My Husband, on Our Wedding Anniversary
I remember standing beside you,
surrounded by people
who had known us separately.
We made our promises
without knowing
all the ways we’d keep them.
Now here we are:
years in the photographs,
years no camera saw.
Happy anniversary, my husband.
I love the life
we’ve been making. -
Just Because
No holiday.
No reason circled on a page.
I saw a card
I thought you’d like,
and wanted you to have
a little more proof
that you’re loved
on an ordinary day.
Longer Love Poems to Read Aloud
-
The Song in the Next Room
You hum when you cook,
off-key and pleased with yourself.
Sometimes the words come back to you,
and you sing a whole line
with great conviction
before returning to the hum.You stop when you realize I’m listening.
Please don’t.
I like hearing you happy
before you remember
anyone else is in the room.We have photographs
from days we dressed up for,
and I love those, too.
But this is a moment
I’d keep without a camera:
you making dinner,
me in the next room,
hearing how glad I am
to be here. -
Ten Years from Now
Ten years from now,
I hope we still have a running joke
no one else understands.
I hope it has grown longer,
gathered a few ridiculous details,
become impossible to explain
without laughing halfway through.I can’t describe the place we’ll live
or all the things we’ll want by then.
We’ve changed our plans before.
Perhaps something we haven’t thought of yet
will turn out to be
our favorite thing to do together.I hope we keep surprising each other.
And when you look over,
I hope you’re as glad to see me
as I am, right now,
to see you. -
If We Moved Tomorrow
If we moved tomorrow,
I’d wrap the chipped blue bowl
you keep saying we should replace.
You’d ask why we were taking it.
I’d ask you to hold the tape.
Some conversations
belong in every house.The boxes would carry
everything we could label.
We’d arrive with the rest:
the jokes that need no introduction,
the stories we’ve both been telling,
the way we find each other
at the end of a crowded afternoon.In the unfamiliar kitchen,
you’d open a cupboard
and ask where I wanted things.
I’d put the bowl beside the sink.
You’d stand there smiling.
Already, we’d have begun. -
Before the Alarm
Before the alarm,
before the headlines,
before the day decides what it wants from us,
there’s this:
light starting at the window,
the house still hushed,
you beside me.Soon we’ll be looking for things,
checking the time,
calling to each other
from different rooms.
For now, I watch the morning
reach the edge of your pillow.You open one eye
and say a sleepy hello.
Nothing remarkable has happened.
I have woken up beside
the man I love,
and he has said hello. -
From the Heart
I tried to write you something grand
with oceans, stars, and gold.
The lines kept turning back to you,
your warm hand in the cold,
the way you say, “We’ve got this,”
then help me see it through,
the wrong turns we’ve laughed our way through
on roads we never knew.So here’s the part
I wanted you to hear:
I love the life we’re making.
I love the man you are.
I love that, after all this time,
there is still more of you to know.
Make the Poem Fit the Two of You
Replace any detail that isn’t part of your relationship, or choose another poem. In a card, leave room for a sentence in your everyday voice: a memory you share, an inside joke, or a plan you’re looking forward to together.
