| Misti | Experience. You've got to live and love before you write a good love poem. To write a GREAT love poem, you should be relatively well-read. You should read great poets and other kinds of writers. You should know at least five Hank Williams songs by heart and at least two Billie Holiday songs by heart. It basically comes down to taking risks. Live inside the comfort zone and you'll get fat and sedate. Fat, sedate people are piss poor writers. |
| wistful | The courage to let your heart lead or the compassion to understand when others do the same, the perspective to see it for all that you/they wished it to be or all that it really was instead, the imagination or vision to see its form in a myriad of shapes and colors and deeds and events, and a command of language to set the expression singing. (A bit pompously put, but heart-felt nonetheless.) |
| Chances | IMHO... This is a bit euphemistic, but you can't WRITE a good love poem. You can only read a good love poem. It either connects with the reader, which is timing, or it doesn't. Work backwards from there, and you've got what it takes to write a good love poem. It's a lot like love itself. Dumb luck. : ( |
| Chances | BTW, that was IMHO - In my humble opinion, not LMHO - laughing my head off. : D |
| B.K. | Well your muse of course. Writing well is one thing but adding that feel it from your nose to your toes part or till it pops out the top of your head as Emily Dickinson said is much harder. |
| B.K. | It's that dark cosmic energy that feeds your soul, wakes you up in the middle of the night and says write this down and nudges you constantly. When it's not there you are searching, but it has to come as naturally as breathing. bk |
| Kirk | A good use of details. Not so many that they make the poem only make sense to the "intended recipient", but enough to make it more real and grab the general reader's interest |
| uopflutist | To the amateaur poet, I would say cut the fluff. And don't try to write twenty deep love poems when all you've got is a crush. Which leads me to believe that experience matters. When the writer has really BEEN LOW DOWN IN LOVE or HEARTBROKEN, their work is more convincing and moving. Another note, write down IDEAS when you are at your high or low love point. Come back to those good ideas later when you are a little more calm to write a coherent poem. |
| uopflutist | (btw, not to offend, I've written loads of crap and a very few poems which I consider "good", so I'm definitly an amateaur too) |
| RennieLorca | I just write. Much of it goes different directions over the years. I have some very intelligent and verbally communicative friends who never write a line of poetry because they are afraid of criticism and possibly not to be praised for posting. IF they can't get a Nobel, then it's not GOOD so why bother. I never cease to be amazed at who is moved (or not) by some particular verse or idea. Some of the very lines I almost don't share have been those I've gotten the most e-mail, calls or remarks on from folks who know me fairly well. I go read poetry in search of others having similar feelings where I can relate and appreciate. I realize it is the same with those who read what I write. GOOD is when someone can relate. You can put together the best lines in your own mind and them not have meaning to someone else without some base or similar experiences. I've gone back and read some old works of mine that hit even me more after additional experiences. Then again, some spicy lines have lost their flavor. Anything creative is in the eye of the beholder and mind of the creator. GOOD is relative. Wish I had some GOOD relatives (lemme see which ones are reading me after writing THAT). GOOD is when I can read and relate ..... Rennie |
| Injun Joe | talent |
| Kirk | Oh, and, usually, heartbreak |
| triciattx | Angst. Clear and simple. |
| Jon | Honesty. I don't care if roses are red or violets are blue. I like my steak medium-rare just like a poem, raw enough to be honest and not too grilled to hide its faults. |
| muryan | I agree with Jon. But I also believe that sometimes it doesn't matter how much experience you have, all you have to do is love, and as long as you've given everything to that love you have the experience to write a love poem. However, like me, some people just can't put their feelings into words all the time. |
| chris | Love. And intelligence. |
| RocketPoweredVampire | The moments when your confused about it all but yet youre still smiling... |
| sassy | you can't write a good love poem if you have never been in LOVE....real love, the kind that bleeds from your veins. I think some of the best love poetry has an element of heartbreak in it. |
| cryingshame58 | It takes a person that was born with the gift of writing-- plus has experienced true love. More often people can't express their feelings into words and that's why "I LOVE YOU" is used often or some feel "too often"... |
| Eve | Passion and a a clear mind |
| Kirk | Heartbreak. And a sense of reserve. |
| Crystal | Emotionally feeling some sort of blasting impact that someone has in your life,the realization that it seems all so out of your control, and the fear that you someday may forget that feeling, or not ever have it again, maybe even the breathtaking fear that someday that person for some reason or another just won't be there as long as you want them to. I think that you have to have that fear of loss and losing to honestly appreciate them and show them that you do. |
| Crystal | TEARS |