Valentine’s Day has come and gone without acknowledgment on my part. That’s because . . . well. I’m not really a big Valentine’s Day fan. It’s an exclusionary, coupled-up kind of “holiday” that has made me feel kinda bad since I was old enough to feel bad about not having a boyfriend. (Which was usually.) And Valentine’s Day has never been a big deal for Tom and I either (to Tom’s great relief every year when he sees men scrambling at the grocery store for flowers and candy), so I tend to ignore the whole thing, generally.
That said, I do enjoy a good poem about love . . . and since it is February and all, I decided to share one of my favorite poems about love with you. This one is by Marjorie Saiser, a Nebraskan and colleague of Ted Kooser, who once said of Marjorie, “no contemporary poet is better at writing about love.” Seems appropriate for February, doesn’t it?
Pulling Up Beside My Husband at the Stoplight
Marjorie SaiserWe are going to the same place
but we take two cars.
Sunday morning and there’s not much traffic,
so I pull up beside him at the stoplight.There he is, in his car,
beside my car,
the profile of his face in the window,
the brown of his hair against his neck. He turns
and blows me a kiss.
I watch it float on by. . . . I ask for another.I remember then how he wakes me on the workday mornings,
his boots across the carpet of the dark bedroom,
the scent of his face when he locates me in the covers,
kisses my eyebrow and the corner of my mouth,
tells me the weather report
and the precise time of day.So. . . I roll down my window, whistle in my throat,
pull my glasses crooked on my face,
do my best baboon snorting,
pound the horn as if it were bread dough.
There is only the lady in the white Buick,
but he is embarrassed, glad to see the green.Me–I’m stepping on the gas, catching up,
wondering what I can do at 56th and Calvert.
You can find out more about Marjorie or read some of her poems here.
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And you can find A Gathering of Poetry every month . . . on the third Thursday.
Share some.
Read some.
Gather up some poetry!
(Bonny hosts a special link-up for A Gathering of Poetry. Be sure to check it out!)
John and I were never big on VD either. We both believed in the magic of ordinary days, and that included expressing our love for one another in many verbal and nonverbal ways. VD, like all other holidays these days, is just a commercial opportunity for sales. It’s sad to think that anyone’s relationship relies on flowers and candy, but I realize that’s just my opinion. No shade to those who love it. Having said more than I should, I think the poem is lovely, particularly the references to the quiet, everyday intimacies. They are what makes a life and a relationship.
Another Valentine’s Day non-celebrator here, but I do love this poem. Observing our significant others from a place slightly removed and different than usual can provide a whole new experience, and that’s often a good (and fun!) thing. It’s good to have some fun even if you have to snort like a baboon. Thanks for sharing!
I am laughing at the brilliance of this poem! I am not a Valentine’s Day fan either… unless it involved helping one’s children get all their little valentines ready for their classmates making sure each member of the class got a valentine… because, as I promoted in my house… Valentine’s Day is about inclusion… no one should be left out. It is the one day that everyone must be included. The only way really!
Happy to report VDay does get a card here but that’s about it . That poem though…I love every bit of it! Thanks Kym!
I’m a low-key Valentine’s day celebrator, but I get why people don’t. When our kids were young, it was about love, not lovers, and everybody got a little something that day. This year, there were cards, and Chuck gave me a little vial of pins from Hiroshima he’d run across on our last trip to Canada. I gave him a little picture I’d painted that he could have had anyway, if he liked. Random and maybe silly — but nice. (And bougie very sharp pins — why not?) February can be a dull gray month.
This is a great poem and I can picture doing this with Dale! I’ve always considered Valentine’s Day to be a day about love of all sorts, not just romantic love, and I celebrate it accordingly. No gifts or card, though, just cream puffs!
I love this — it made me laugh! This poem so beautifully captures that comfortable, reliable love of people who have been together for a long time and so maybe things aren’t as exciting as they were at the beginning, but the love is deeper and more meaningful.