5 Poems for People You Love
A poem for all the loved ones in your life for the month of Valentine's (including yourself!).
At Dr Jackson's, we celebrate all kinds of love: love that transcends age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, borders, and time.
We've curated the work of some of the world’s most powerful contemporary voices, who recognise love - in its various forms - as a force to shape the world we live in.
Whether it's for a friend, a lover, or simply yourself, we hope you can use these poems to show your appreciation, affection and support.
A poem for a partner
“Let me put it this way:
if you came to lay
your sleeping head
against my arm or sleeve,
and if my arm went dead,
or if I had to take my leave
at midnight, I should rather
cleave it from the joint or seam
than make a scene or bring you round...”
A poem for a lover
“Every glance can be a conversation, eyes just playing and saying what needs to be said.”
A poem for family
“It is you who became yourself / but those before you / are a part of your fabric”
A poem for a friend
“Friendship wants you to
have what it can make,
what it is trying
to make, with its
small moon hands, its
crescent hands criss-
crossing the night
& our cities swollen
with dream...”
A poem for yourself
“If I’m lonely
it’s with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it’s neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning”