How to Write an Effective, Short Love Poem

An epiphany of nature

An epiphany of nature

Short love poetry is like an epiphany. Can anyone explain how an epiphany occurs or what it is? The word epiphany suggests the manifestation or the appearance of something, as well as some kind of an intuitive grasp on truth, which in this case, would find its expression in a short poem about love.

Unless love is revealed in some way, like an epiphany or is manifested in the poetry, via some mode of expression that can be grasped as love, it cannot be considered to be effective poetry. The question becomes one of how to write effective love poetry.

"How can you make your poem portray love?"

There is the issue of attempting to create a short love poem.

"How many words does it take to express love?"

Consider these tips about how to write an effective short love poem.

Title

The title of an effective, short love poem should immediately alert the reader to the true focus of the poem. Love is elusive in nature, has an element of mystery and a whimsical element. Encompass that into the title. 

For example, use the titles "Love", "I Love" or "I Love You". All of those titles convey specific messages that catch the reader's attention, immediately. Use powerful words in your title, ones that pierce the heart tenderly.

The body of the poem

Keeping the body of the poem short presents a challenge for the love poet, because there is a limitation to the number of words that can be used, but love can be expressed without words, with very few words or with so many words that the world would turn a deaf ear. Sometimes, just one word can state what many others cannot express.

For example, describe the feeling of puppy love, when a young boy meets a girl for the first time. "Woof!"

Try writing a piece of poetry about a teenage girl's love for her pony. Be specific about the subject. "My Beauty!" 

Both of these titles have immediate impact and draw the attention of the reader. Now, the task becomes that of expanding upon the title, showing insight beyond mere experience. Use words that depict the full gamut of emotion like love or hate, joy or sorrow, as well as fear or no fear.

Abstract versus concrete

You can write poetry in a way that is abstract. For example, try writing a piece of poetry about the refection of the moon on the water, as seen through the eyes of young lovers. 

"The light of the moon caresses the ripples."

The love of the moon for the ripples in the water depicts the feelings or the reality of the lives and actions of lovers. Draw inspiration from nature and its wonderful elements of mystery, to convey what you feel. Magnify and convey the intensity of your own feelings.

Free poetry

Poets love to free poetry from its constraints. Excessive verbiage can force a poem into verbal bondage, jeopardizing its credibility as a poem. Free poetry is just that. It is free. It is free from vast volumes of descriptive imagery, the limitations and restrictions of sentence structure, binding rhythm or rhyme and the necessity of non-essential and non-significant words. For example, write a piece of poetry about the freedom of the wind, but only use words that express the wind's total freedom from structure of any kind.

Rhythm and Rhyme

Rhythm and rhyme play together like the colors of the rainbow, blending into one another in silent intimacy, but almost unspoken with respect to happenstance. This occurs without any earth shattering awakening, but it is like an epiphany of nature that manifests itself in total beauty. 

For example, write a short poem about how you loved the most beautiful dawn or sunset, that you can remember in your entire life. Find a rhythm that sings and rhyme that swings. 

For more playful rhyme and rhythm, touch the chords of an old, nursery rhyme momentarily and keep that rhythm going, putting in your own verbal expression. Children's love poetry does not contain a lot of words, but it does contain a lot of meaning, that is expressed simply. 

For example, try a title like "My Grandaddy and Me". Read that title a number of different ways and see what kind of rhythm and rhyme flows.

Closure

Closing a poem at exactly the right moment in time is vital in order to maintain the integrity of the poem. Taking it too far, defeats its original purpose, so bring it to a close, where it is appropriate. Here is where you need a punch line, a surprise ending, a revelation of the signification of the poem for humankind. Simplify the ending of your poem in such a way that it will never be forgotten. It will make the reader ask, "Why did I not think of that?"

Words

Love poetry has many potent words that are expressive of love with its complexity, diversity and multiplicity of expression. Perhaps the most powerful expression comes in the non-verbal expression that is realized as the epiphany resolves itself. What is left unsaid can be far more powerful than anything that might have been stated. Keep the words simple enough so that the reader knows intuitively what you are stating. Sometimes an element of mystery works, but not always.

Remember that the true nature of love is such that it cannot be contained. It will be expressed and perhaps, it will be your pen that brings forth its ultimate expression. Keep your poetry short, sweet and full of powerful feelings, regardless of what you are depicting, and it will be an effective, short love poem.