Pablo Neruda's poem is not yours.

In my humble opinion, Pablo Neruda excels when it comes to writing about love, but each poet has a different way of sharing what they know about love. April is National Poetry Month, a perfect month for expressing the emotion of love. Flowers begin to bloom, the sunlight lingers, stars seem brighter, and those April showers seem a bit gentler than they did a month before. Writing a poem seems harder than it is, but all it takes is an honest emotion and a quiet place to write. Feelings of love are not always similar, but when it comes to writing a love poem, honest expression of emotions is usually a good place to start.

It's not too late to write a poem about love and submit it somewhere. The poem could be something wonderful, or just a means of expression, but writing allows for the honest expression of emotions, and what stronger emotion to write about than love? In everyday affairs, we are not encouraged to write about our feelings, especially feelings of love. Instead, we are taught to hide our emotions, which can lead to misunderstandings, lost opportunities, and even emotional illnesses because sooner or later, emotions will come rising to the surface, and sooner or later they will be expressed in some way, somehow.

Why not use emotions to an advantage? Why not tap into emotions, positive or negative, and write a poem about love? With poetry, expression might begin as words on a page. As we continue to write, we make choices based on our desired overall effect, mood or tone. Eventually, we begin to write with a sense of purpose, challenging ourselves to choose words that best reflect what we wish to say and how we want it said.

Poetry is an exalted language not because of the words only but also because of the choices we make to use the "best words in the best order" for the specific situation. For example, the language used to write a letter of complaint will be quite different from the language used to write a love poem. Words used to write a satiric poem will also be different from those used to convey feelings of love. The magic of poetry is that it occupies the entire emotional system, which makes it therapeutic. It forces us to focus on a desirable outcome while our emotions are being expressed. 

Poetry is great for expressing emotions and creating a sense of purpose and anticipation, if only for the time that we write. April is a perfect time to express our love--or lack of love--and  practice using the best words in the best order to achieve a desired effect. The following poem seems a beautiful expression of love, but Pablo Neruda's poem is not yours.

  Sonnet XVII

I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or the arrow of carnations the fire shoots off.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.

I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love a certain solid fragrance,
risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.

Pablo Neruda