CRISTINA AND CHLOE'S
POETICS OF LOVE
A POEM FOR A WEDDING:
Never thought it'd be possible
To love someone as much as I do you
Which is why I suggest:
Let's not ruin this with a wedding.
SOME DELIGHTS:
1. Memories of Cousin Danny's wedding
2. Having a routine
3. Long walks that clear my head
4. Disco fries from Blue Swan Diner
5. Gifting my mom her new air fryer
6. My mom laughing hysterically at her own joke
7. The warmth of my sherpa sweatshirt
8. Waving hello to my mail carrier
9. The smell of orange and lemon zest
10. My boyfriend holding my groceries for me
11. Getting 8 hours of sleep a night
What does your love life look like today?
Look to the wheel!
11. BBQ boneless wings
12. Successfully cutting down on coffee
13. Being serenaded over snapchat
14. Memories of family pre-Covid
Do I actually mean what I am saying?
Come,
Let’s figure that out
Let me figure this out
Come, come, come
You want me to find you and I want you to
Come find me
Vanity, vanity, fatality
Go kiss vanity
Kiss your vanity
I’ll go kiss vanity
I’ll kiss my vanity
How about our ego’s?
I have my galaxy
I have my gallery
I need my sanity
Hello Petsmart Worker,
I hope this letter finds you well. I think you may remember me; I was the girl who was stuck in Petsmart for an hour while her boyfriend negotiated with his parents over the possibility of bringing home a guinea pig. You were so kind; even when we asked you questions I knew were asinine, you answered them with care. I couldn’t see your full face behind your mask, but the image of your big, piercing blue eyes stayed with me long after our encounter. I can see them now, looking at me with a mix of curiosity and, likely, a tinge of annoyance...
Anyway, this may seem a bit forward, but please consider the possibility of us two getting married...
Love doesn’t work like that
Marriage doesn't work like that
Love isn’t easy
Marriage isn’t easy
Love is work
Marriage is work
It’s work
You have to put in work
Your partner has to put in work
LOVE IS AN ACTION!
LOVE IS AN ACTION!
LOVE IS AN ACTION!
Chloe and I spoke about specific assignments we enjoyed writing more and wanted to include in our final such as the marriage poem, the letters, and the delight reflection/ log. We were honest and spoke about our ideas and what we wanted our final to be like, as well as our capacities. I told her I wasn't good with animation design but was open to ideas such as creating a website or video. Chloe agreed to design the website while I guide her along if I wasn't comfortable with designing it. Chloe agreed to take on the designing portion of the website while I wrote to balance each other out. It comes natural for me to write more and for her to design since she's a 2D animation major and I’m a writing major. We used our strengths to our advantage to help us with our final. What was important and helped us was that we communicated through text message and admitted we were preoccupied with other assignments and personal stuff...
Hey Chloe,
Happy Valentine's Day. I hope you're doing well. The assignment teleported me back to elementary school when I was in first grade, and my teacher made us write letters to each other. It made me think about how technology changed over the years and the fact that it's rare for people to write letters by hand anymore or simply write by hand. I remember that you mentioned that you are minoring in Literature and Writing. I recently adopted the habit of writing by hand and then typing what I feel is necessary for my piece, which has improved my writing practice. I find that words flow easier when I write by hand instead of staring at a computer screen. I'm curious about your writing practice and your thoughts on writing by hand or computer...
Hi Cristina,
Thank you so much for your Valentine’s Day letter, I had a smile on my face the entire time I read it. Like you were saying, it really isn’t often these days that people just sit down and write all of their random thoughts down to a penpal; even only a few sentences into this letter to you, I feel a sense of catharsis. It was so lovely to hear your thoughts and to read Rainer Maria Rilke’s beautiful poem! Thank you for sharing that with me. When I opened your letter, I felt so horrible about the skimpy little valentine I sent you. I’m so sorry, I hope you didn’t feel jipped. I have included here my favorite poem ever by my favorite poet ever, W.H. Auden. I feel as though my analysis of it isn’t correct, but I always see it through the lens of someone gathering up the courage to leave an abusive relationship. If you feel so inclined, let me know what you think it means.
The Three Companions or O Where Are You Going?
"O where are you going?" said reader to rider,
"That valley is fatal where furnaces burn,
Yonder's the midden whose odours will madden,
That gap is the grave where the tall return."
"O do you imagine," said fearer to farer,
"That dusk will delay on your path to the pass,
Your diligent looking discover the lacking,
Your footsteps feel from granite to grass?"
"O what was that bird," said horror to hearer,
"Did you see that shape in the twisted trees?
Behind you swiftly the figure comes softly,
The spot on your skin is a shocking disease."
"Out of this house"---said rider to reader,
"Yours never will"---said farer to fearer
"They're looking for you"---said hearer to horror,
As he left them there, as he left them there.
Hey Chloe,
Don't feel bad about your valentine; I love it. You remember that I said I would like to meet Dua
Lipa. I love Dua Lipa's music or anything Dua Lipa-related. I appreciate the Dua Lipa quote
and message "trust yourself."
What interests me about the poem is the personification of horror and fearer. And how fearer
and farer, and hearer and horror, and reader to rider switch roles by the end of the poem.
There's a change of power dynamics as the poem continues. I see why you think the poem is
about someone getting the courage to finally leave an abusive relationship. At the beginning of
the poem, there's a dominant and influential voice telling someone about all the danger that
exists in the world simply to frighten someone as well as, cause them to panic and make them
submissive and doubt themselves. The first person speaking is trying to convince the other person
into staying with them. I noticed that the other person is "you," in a way, W.H. Auden made the
reader "you," he is addressing us directly by writing in 2nd person, which makes the poem more
intimate and bring us closer as readers to the poet and material, which I appreciate...
Heartbroken
In Love
Betrayed
Crushing
Trapped
Passionate