Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?… No?

Okay, fair enough. We’ve all had cliche love poems and imagery flung at us from every corner since we got old enough to make a Valentine’s Day card out of construction paper. 

As poets, we get to a place where we’ve heard the classics too many times, and Neruda and Cummings lose their power. There’s a time and place for classic love poetry (weddings, for example) but as a writing poet looking to explore daring work that tackles its subject matter in new and inventive ways, it’s not doing a lot for me.

And let’s face it: writing non-cliche love poetry is hard, even if you’re an expert at being in love. Contemporary love poems need to find a way to situate the reader in how it feels to be in love, one of the most common and overwritten human experiences, while still finding a way to be unique. 

While there’s challenge in love poetry, there’s also opportunity. Love is personal, often quirky, silly, and a little bizarre—and the specifics of our romances are ever-evolving, just like humans are. 

So without further ado, here are ten contemporary love poems that show us how to do it right.