Love Poetry

I think about Kenneth Patchen:
His poems of love and protest,
And I remember I could never separate the two,
Love – protest, in his poetry.

I think of all the time I have been in love
Since I was five, really…
Remember I have never fallen out of love
And I don’t know what a love poem would be.

I know I have been in love since before I knew what love was
And thought I was in love even after I found I did not know what it was.

Isn’t the intensity we bring to anything we care about love?
Isn’t the passion for Pound and Stevens,
The devotion to those twenty students,
The rage at the school for not putting education first, love?

But what about romantic love, you say?
Valentines Day and all that sentimentality?
For me, that has always been like Sunday morning Christianity…
A mockery of intensity.

Love is for me everyday. The mundane.
The taking care of business.

Then love makes the world go 'round,
Another day,
February or otherwise.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2022 04:21PM by petersz.

Peter:

Isn’t the intensity we bring to anything we care about love?


Interesting perspective. I agree.


One question: Does mockery of intensity refer to romantic love in general, or merely to Valentine's Day?

Joe

Joseph,

Since I was a kid, I've felt that spirituality is an all the time thing, even if it takes different forms at different times. I feel that way about love also, as the poem says. I remember when I used to feel particularly 'devout' witnessing people who were only 'religious' when it served their needs to feel religious. I was always put off by that. The proforma participation in empty ritual seemed to empty the ritual even more to me. For myself, when it got to the point wherein I was only mouthing the words to the hymns, I went to my minister and told him I could not attend church anymore unless that came to an end. He affirmed my understanding of what I needed to do.

Even today, when I get to a point wherein I feel strong affection toward someone, I tell her. Most of the time, the woman takes that as a compliment from an ols man and a friends, but my intensity requires I express my actual feeling toward people, even if only to declare them.

This is a long, tangential response to your question: 'Does mockery of intensity refer to romantic love in general, or merely to Valentine's Day?' Intensity alters behavior and alters one's state of being. I did study troubadour poetry, courtly love and the Arthurian Tradition, so I understand where the everyday sense of Romantic love comes from in Europe. And when I was in grade school, I decided that Valentine's Day was what we called a 'Hallmark Holiday,' a commercial enterprise designed to puff up store sales.

Yesterday I was watching them stack the shelves at Walgreen's with Valentines merchandise...it did not may me feel more amorous toward my girl friend.

But you know, Joseph, poetry is particular, like feelings. It is not a universal statement to be applied to all circumstances, all people, or even to one person, even me, all the time. It is the present exploration of the human world for me most of the time, even when it seems most general or abstract.

Thanks for responding. Your questions are always thoughtful.

amo et avanti,

Peter

Joe,

I wrote in my journal that I don't think I ever answered your question.

The short answer is Romantic Love lacks the intensity of a fully engaged life experience that includes rather than excludes. And yes, I think Valentines Day is a mockery.

Cheers,

Peter

Good one, Peter, I think your philosophical perspective is probably not as important as your living that philosophy. People tend to know who's real and who's faking it.

Les

yes, they have antennae for that kind of thing.