why write a love poem
by Nate Marshall
so much of my memory of romantic love
is a memoir of failing
or at least not forevers.
my great grandma’s smart mouth
taunting her once-husband now made quiet
by the Alzheimer’s.
my grandparents sniping at the holidays.
the story that Grandma lost her handgun
after Granddaddy showed up drunk & sentimental
& she threatened to win her peace with her piece.
my parents, their ons & offs,
the rocky soundtrack to my first decade.
i don’t mean to be a stereotype.
i remember the 90s, the handwringing
about single moms & the cruel jokes
about ghetto Father’s Day. i don’t mean
to feed your american nightmares
but i would be lying if i told you
i did not see my friends’ parents
who managed to marry & smile
& stare long. not out of longing,
just curiosity. how do you do
that? how do you say love
in a language
that isn’t leaving?
i write love poems
because i love
the challenge of trying
to make language stretch
toward a thing that is unsayable
& nearly as hard to do.
Nate Marshall is an award-winning author and editor from the South Side of Chicago. His most recent book, Finna, was recognized as one of the best books of 2020 by NPR and The New York Public Library. Marshall is an assistant professor in the creative writing program at the University of Wisconsin and lives in Madison, WI, with his wife, the writer Alison C. Rollins, and their very cute daughter.