SESSION 2 — Exploring Love Through Poetry

Photo by Joe Hu on Unsplash

Discussion:

• Love doesn’t just make the world go round; it inspires soul-stirring art.

• How do the following poems invite us to think about love—its stillness, its intensity, and its consequences?

• How is this further illustrated in the structure of the poems, their use of metaphors, etc.?

(This week, we will be exploring romantic love. We will delve into the other

types of love in coming sessions.)

Variation
Federico Garcia Lorca

That still pool of the air
under the branch of an echo.

That still pool of the water
under a frond of bright stars.

That still pool of your mouth
under a thicket of kisses.

Timescape
(after Federico Garcia Lorca)
Ruth Osman

The cool dew of laughter
on the buds of our affinity.

The cool dew of kisses
on the savannah of my skin.

The cool dew of silence
on the mountain of our limbs entwined.

Adam’s Song
Derek Walcott

The adulteress stoned to death,
is killed in our own time
by whispers, by the breath
that films her flesh with slime.

The first was Eve,
who horned God for the serpent,
for Adam's sake—which makes
everyone guilty or Eve innocent.

Nothing has changed
for men still sing the song that Adam sang
against the world he lost to vipers,
the song to Eve
against his own damnation;

he sang it in the evening of the world
with the lights coming on in the eyes
of panthers in the peaceable kingdom
and his death coming out of the trees,
he sings it, frightened
of the jealousy of God and at the price
of his own death.

The song ascends to God, who wipes his eyes:

'Heart, you are in my heart as the bird rises,
heart, you are in my heart while the sun sleeps,
heart, you lie still in me as the dew is,
you weep within me, as the rain weeps.'

Writing Prompts

1. Imagine love as a landscape or place—what would it look like? Is it a mountain, a savannah, a stormy sea? Write a poem
describing it.

2. What about the weight of love—its consequences, the pain it can cause? Write a poem about a time love felt heavy or cost you dearly.

If you’d like to share your new creation with us, click below. We’d love to read your work!