If you are a long time follower of my blog, then you know that today is one of my favorite holidays and you know that I share poetry, valentines, art, and more.

Happy Valentine’s day!  Can you believe it’s here again already?  I used to hate this holiday, but after many years of grumbling, I decided to make the day my own.  Now, it’s honestly my favorite holiday (and the only day of the year I get to wear my cupid cow earrings!).  Why? How? If you’re curious where the tradition started, you can read about it here on an older blog of mine.  If you enjoy the poems and want to read more, you can find them in the blog filters under “Valentine’s Day poems.”  This year I have 5 poems of others’ to share (2 of which are pictures) and 1 of my own with my own art.

If you managed to forget all about the fact that Valentine’s day was approaching, don’t panic.  Mike Ciccotello made these absolutely amazing volcano valentines to go with the picture book I’M A VOLCANO written by Bridget Heos.  You can download them here.

Finally, I want to share the inspiration for my poem this year.  I read about titi monkeys in PECULIAR PRIMATES and became fascinated by them.  They are the only primate known to be monogamous and live primarily in the Amazon basin in Brazil.  They rarely come to the forest floor, have been known to purr when content, and twin their tails together.  The tail twining is most common between males and females but it has been known to happen with family groups of 3-5 as well.  Wrapping their tails together reinforces bonds and they do this when they are awake or asleep, as long as they are sitting together.  Google them.  They’re adorable!

Now, on with the poetry sharing!

Tea
by Carol Ann Duffy

I like pouring your tea, lifting
the heavy pot, and tipping it up,
so the fragrant liquid streams in your china cup.

Or when you’re away, or at work,
I like to think of your cupped hands as you sip,
as you sip, of the faint half-smile of your lips.

I like the questions – sugar? – milk? –
and the answers I don’t know by heart, yet,
for I see your soul in your eyes, and I forget.

Jasmine, Gunpowder, Assam, Earl Grey, Ceylon,
I love tea’s names. Which tea would you like? I say
but it’s any tea for you, please, any time of day,

as the women harvest the slopes
for the sweetest leaves, on Mount Wu-Yi,
and I am your lover, smitten, straining your tea.

I KNOW SOMEONE

by Mary Oliver

I know someone who kisses the way

a flower opens, but more rapidly.

Flowers are sweet.  They have

short, beatific lives.  There is

nothing in the world that can be said

against them.

Sad, isn’t it, that all they can kiss

is the air.

Yes, yes!  We are the lucky ones.

Valentine by Donald Hall (from THE POETRY OF US)

I like your by Kwame Alexander (from OUT OF WONDER)

IF I WERE ROBERT FROST

by Charles Ghigna

for Debra 

I’d pray that my soft words

would fall like snow,

blank white verse

upon the countryside

of your heart,

would fill the forest

of your dreams with light

and silently lead us

through the trees

back to our own

endless road

not taken.

And finally mine with my own art this year: