Valentine's Chai

when a poem finds you

Hello, Poetry Friend

During the last three years of my mother’s life, I wrote seventy-two poems. Some are good, while others fall under the heading of poetry therapy. But I’m glad I wrote them all because each one grounded in the details of those days. They are collected on my website as My Mother’s Diary.

The poem “Valentine’s Chai” found me. I wrote it the day it happened, and I have barely changed a word since I first scribbled it into my notebook. I began composing it in my head in the grocery store, as I bought Valentine’s candy. (Note: I almost never buy candy. Buying it was the clue that a poem was underway.)

Once you begin integrating poetry into your life, it begins to have its way with you. You don’t always get to choose what to write or when. One moment you are calmly drinking chai, and the next you are engaging in grocery retail therapy, while the poem jumps up and down and says, Write Me!

What else can you do?

Valentine's Chai

Sitting in a sunny cafe, I call my parents
because I can’t stand to hear
bad news at home.
So I call from here, on my cell,
armed with chai.

She’s telling the doctor, No more.

She will leave his office with some pills
that will lengthen her sweet tooth in time
for Valentine’s Day.

I quaff my tea and head to the store
for candy hearts, chocolate hearts,
Reese’s peanut butter hearts, heart-shaped
cookies piled with icing — any
confectionary way to say I love you I love
you I love you I love you I love you.

–Megan Willome, poem published in The Joy of Poetry

Poetry Journal

• Read the Valentine’s poem.

• Jot down what you notice, what you like, what you don’t, what questions you have, and at least one way in which the poem speaks to your soul.

• Read the poem again, aloud (if you didn’t the first time). Is there anything you notice this time that you want to add to your journal?

• What poem needs to find you today (Valentine’s-related or not)? If you like, email me what you write.

Take care, Megan