How to Write a Love Poem

Anyone can write a love poem, and for the most part, any old love poem from the heart will have a winning effect, but there are tricks of the trade that can envelope your sweetie with utter warmth. I'll give you tips to consider in writing your poem, and I'll give you some advice on what to avoid in writing the poem. The maid idea, as with any form of writing poetry, is to be honest.

First, think about all the wonderful things you like about your sweetie. Write them down. Be specific. Don't just write, "She's beautiful." What makes her beautiful? Big breasts, thin waist and clear skin don't sound poetic, and they don't necessarily show sweetie that you're deeply moved by who she is, inside and out of her. I once had a guy tell me, just as he picked up my hand, "Your skin is as soft and delicate as a China Doll's." I was too young to know if that saying had been around, but the image moved me very much. I was all big headed for the rest of the day, thinking my skin was wonderful, and I really believed he thought I had nice skin because he compared it to something really unique (or so I considered it to be unique).

So, then, once you write down all the traits about your sweetie that you love, whether they are physical, or otherwise, find ways to describe them using poetic devices such as metaphors, similes, hyperbole's, and other figures of speech. A metaphor is a symbol. The following example is a short, hastily written poem about someone's "beautiful" voice, in which the voice is being compared to milk (I put "beautiful" in quotes because descriptive words should be avoided if possible, so that true imagery can unfold in a poem).

Milk

At night, when your
breath wraps into mine,
as our cheeks sink
into the pillows,
and you part your soft
lips to say, "good night, Dev,"

I take a deep sip
of your cool, voice
and savor it into slumber.

A simile compares something to something else without making the original object become the one it is being compared to. If you couldn't understand what I just mumbled, I'll explain further. Whereas a metaphor might be, "You're hands are ballerinas," a simile would be, "Your hands are as agile and delicate as ballerinas.

A hyperbole is a big exaggeration. For example, "Your eyes are bigger and deeper then the Pacific Ocean."

Okay, now that you have some ideas of tools to use, consider writing how you feel about your Love. Be specific again. Don't just write, "I love you, you make me happy, and I never, ever want to leave you." Those words may be true, but they don't show how deeply you burn, or even how you burn inside at the thought of being away from your Love. Consider reading some poetry by Pablo Neruda. If you speak Spanish, definitely read his work in his native tongue, but if not, the English translations are pretty good too. He has some powerful love poems. Look for "Cien Sonetos de Amor," (100 Love Sonnets). Here's an excerpt from one of those sonnets, XVII:

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
`
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Those last two lines are powerful. Neruda didn't just write, "I feel so close to you," but came up with an original, true, way to say just how close he felt to the object of the poem.

To sum up the task of writing a love poem, I give some tips:

Use poetic devices to enhance the feeling of the poem (metaphor, similes, Etc.)
Be completely honest and dig for original observations you have about the relationship or your lover.
If it helps, just start writing all your thoughts down on paper, then scrape out the nuggets to make your poem.
Research some contemporary poetry and see if you can find what poetic language they use that moves you (Just don't plagiarize. Only research to help you understand how poetry works to move you)

What to Avoid:

Don't try to hard to sound poetic by using "Thee," or "Thou," or other old poetry lingo.
If you rhyme, don't twist your words to force a rhyme.
Finally, don't worry as much about whether he or she will like the poem.