Poetry and Valentine’s Day

Several years ago, in a fit of self-improvement, I subscribed to Poetry Magazine. They were having a 1/2-off sale, so I figured for $17, how could I go wrong? There’s not just poetry, but commentary, many letters to the editor, and even artwork (and the font face and layout are beautiful.) Granted some of the poetry and the nitpicking in the letters are unintelligible to me, but every issue has at least one thing I read and return to again.
The Feb 2009 issue has a section of collages by Tony Fitzpatrick (see on the right). Fitzpatrick is both a collage artist and poet, and he often includes his poetry in his artwork. The introduction to the collages in Poetry quotes Fitzpatrick:

“We love in poetry but, unfortunately, we live in prose. Sometimes the two are not congruent. What we remember of love is usually a fiction. What we aspire to is haiku: short, sweet, perfect.”

The Poetry Magazine website has a selection of love poems celebrating Valentine’s Day both to read and listen to. From the current issue, my favorite is a very black love poem, an anti-Valentine, if you will, by Kim Addonizio called Weaponry. But more in keeping with the spirit of the day is this one, by Stephen Dunn

Connubial

Because with alarming accuracy
she’d been identifying patterns
I was unaware of—this tic, that
tendency, like the way I’ve mastered
the language of intimacy
in order to conceal how I felt—

I knew I was in danger
of being terribly understood.