The 15 Best Valentines Day Poems

Happy Valentines Day from The Adroit Journal! Here at Adroit, we love all writing, but poems about love are our first love.

To celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of sixteen of Valentines Day poems we love. We’ve specifically aimed for different types, different flavors, different vibes, different manifestations, and different levels of love. This is no usual list, so whatever your plans are on this Valentines Day, make sure this list of Valentines Day poems is a part of them.

 

Valentines Day Poems

DISCLAIMER: We do not encourage the utilization of these poems to ‘woo’ this Valentines Day. You might not get the best results…

 

1. “At Pegasus” by Terrance Hayes

“A young man slips his thumb / into the mouth of an old one, // & I am not that far away.”

 

2. “The Green Hotel” by Matthew Thorburn

“We’ve left the familiar behind–far / from home, newly married–awake now / for twenty-seven hours and falling in love / with a country that never goes dark.”

 

3. “On the Nights My Lover Dreams of Drowning” by Amber Rambharose

“I have learned // that there are times when the decision must be made not to cut / through muscle, to let shrapnel swim forever.”

 

4. “Year Without Dusting” by Brandon Courtney

“She pours pot after pot into the tub, pours / blood-warm water over me.”

 

5. “Renovation in the St. Cecelia School Gymnasium” by Lauren Berry

“For weeks, / the wet paint scent / surrounded / our white necks.”

 

6. “How We Make Love” by Cheryl Julia Lee

“‘Look! I made something! / I am not quite sure what it is, but look! / I made something.'”

 

7. “Kindling” by Sarah Rose Nordgren

“Better, // maybe, to leave him like this, / unfeeling and questionless.”

 

8. “Orientalism” by Tory Adkisson

“Blood. Now is a time for romance, // comedy, maybe even a little / catharsis.”

 

9. “The Twist” by Ian Burnette

“I remember it / like a bullet / remembers the bone.”

 

10. “Fraternity” by Sam Sax

“& here I am: somewhere / in the middle of my life / in the middle of Texas…”

 

11. “Grime” by Jeanann Vertee

“Maybe it was the way we forced / our eyes to unscramble porn, or the sweetness / we discovered in the meat of each other’s breasts / deep in our mouths.”

 

12. “Love Poem for Scarecrow” by Kathleen Radigan

“Kissing you feels like leaves. / Fall is near.”

 

13. “Equinox” by Siobhan Phillips

“For milk and the morning paper, I walk / down this crooked arm of road / around the woods.”

 

14. “Demeter” by Michelle Chan Brown

“Once she was a drop of dark blood in a man’s water / glass. Once, she made the primary artery in his neck // botch a tango.” 

 

15. “Lament with Rhinestones and Wonder” by Stevie Edwards

“Say the glass pipe tasted like diamonds and Paris. / I’ll listen.”

 

Well there you have it! I hope you have the best Valentines Day, and that these Valentines Day poems give you the inspiration you’re seeking.

Aidan Forster

Aidan Forster is a queer poet from South Carolina. A 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts, his work has been honored by the National YoungArts Foundation, the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, the Poetry Society of America, and the Poetry Society of the United Kingdom, among others. His work appears in or is forthcoming from The Adroit Journal, Best New Poets 2017, BOAAT, Columbia Poetry Review, The Journal, and Tin House, among others. He is a 2017 Tin House Summer Scholar in Poetry and reads poetry for Muzzle. His debut chapbook of poems, 'Exit Pastoral,' is forthcoming from YesYes Books in November of 2018. He attends Brown University and plans to study Literary Arts and Gender & Sexuality Studies.

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