Day 9: Love

When I thought about today's prompt so many things came to mind to write about that it was almost overwhelming. I could pick the Pepé Le Pew type or Shakespeare's or rom-coms and love songs.

Instead, I remembered the Love Is... comics I used to read as a child. Every day in the paper there was a different idea of what love was. Do you remember? I even had a transistor radio (there's a blast from the past) shaped like the couple holding hands. I loved the silly thing!

What those comics taught me, though, is that love has many different facets. Its not just one thing. There's romantic/passionate love, which is the most common one we think of, but there's also platonic, familial, charitable (think compassion; love for strangers/animals/etc), and self-love (think self-esteem and confidence). And that's just the main ones. Each one is unique unto itself and comes with its own set of rules and boundaries, and even consequences.

But what is love?

Shakespeare wrote that it was about acceptance and not changing each other, that it lasts to "the edge of doom", or death, and that it's still there even through the storms and hard times. Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote that not only was it ethereal but in the everyday things. Pablo Neruda says that it is neither I nor you but that we are one. But I think love is indefinable. I believe that it is whatever it needs to be for each person and each relationship. I believe you can love many people and many things and that to limit your love is the greatest tragedy you can experience.

We exult in it when it's new. We absorb it and get comfortable in it after we've been in it for some time. We mourn its loss and the loss of those we love.

So many different ways to write about love and what it is. The Poetry Foundation even has a section about it. What is love to you?

Explore love today. It's all we need, right?

No suggested form. Why force love into it? ;-)

Word Prompts:

infatuation

romance

affection

friendship

devotion

cherish

delight

Alternately:

indifference

infidelity

impartiality

cold-hearted

Visual Prompts:

Remember, our prompts are only suggestions. You can find your inspiration wherever your muse leads you. Please visit the other participants, share the hashtag, #OctPoWriMo on social media, and share your link in the comments below. Let us know how this journey into poetry is going for you.

*photos courtesy of Pexels.com, a free stock photo site, and picture quotes have their sites listed on the picture.