Someday I’ll Love…
Recently, one of my favorite poetry podcasts introduced me to the idea of a Someday I’ll Love poem. If you have time you should listen to that episode, but if you don’t the essence is about exploring identity and origins (parts of ourselves and our history) that we find it difficult or challenging to love/understand. Carolee Bennett’s Poetry Blog explains both the origin story and her personal exploration of this type of poem as well as shares some wonderful examples.
Originally I was going to save this writing inspiration for February but as my friend (and successor) Eric Morris shared this prompt at the January NWP Connecting the Network I decided this writing inspiration was located so much not in love but in aspiration and seeking to understand ourselves:
Tonight we will write a “Someday I’ll Love…” Poem to express where we hope to go this year or in the future. Read these wonderful examples here: https://poets.org/poem/someday-ill-love and https://poetryarchive.org/poem/someday-ill-love-ocean-vuong/
It is commonly accepted that Roger Reeves is the beginning of this lineage, but I think Someday I’ll Love January O’Neil is my favorite of those I’ve read so far. Some other favorites include:
- Someday I’ll Love Sage Marshall
- Someday I’ll love Elaine Mei
- I Never Knew I Loved Dean Rader
- someday i’ll love claire schwartz
I spent more time that I should dithering about which piece of artwork to post with this invitation. I ultimately chose to go with the featured image because we are quite literally snowed in (although it is so cold I cannot imagine anyone is out there playing in the snow) but also because I love the imagery of a frozen heart and thinking about the hope/danger of its melting. However, I also want to share the other image that was in my mind as inspiration. I do love the idea of exploring the roots and branches of love:
Your invitation to write this week can explore any of these ideas: your hopes and ideas for this year, something about yourself that you hope can love someday, or whatever spark these poems and ideas ignite in your imagination.
