New York, NY (February 9, 2021)— The Academy of American Poets, the producer of Poets.org—one of the world’s most popular online resources for poems with tens of millions of visits each year—invites you to share love poems this Valentine’s Day. Here are twenty-one selections from our collection for the upcoming occasion:

Classic:

W. H. Auden, “The More Loving One”

Djuna Barnes, “Serenade”

Willa Cather, “Evening Song”

E. E. Cummings, “Amores (II)”

Federico García Lorca, “[To find a kiss of yours]”

Sadakichi Hartmann, “Why I Love Thee?”

Claude McKay, “To O. E. A.”

Frank O’Hara, “Having a Coke with You”

Jalal al-Din Rumi, “What Was Told, That”

Bertrand N. O. Walker, “An Indian Love Song”

Contemporary:

Diannely Antigua, “Anniversary”

Anne Carson, “O Small Sad Ecstasy of Love”

Meg Day, “Once All the Hounds Had Been Called Home”

Heid E. Erdrich, “How”

Benjamin Garcia, “Bliss Point or What Can Best Be Achieved by Cheese”

Christopher Gilbert, “How the Stars Understand Us”

Maureen N. McLane, “Syntax”

Anis Mojgani, “Hon or We have both traveled from the other side of some hill, one side of which we may wish we could forget”

Xandria Phillips, “Edmonia Lewis and I Weather the Storm”

Adrienne Rich, “Twenty-One Love Poems [Poem III]”

Sonia Sanchez, “Haiku [for you]”

Visit Poets.org for a curated collection of more than 100 additional love poems.

About the Academy of American Poets 

The Academy of American Poets is the nation’s leading champion of poets and poetry with supporters in all fifty states. Founded in 1934, the organization annually awards more funds to individual poets than any other organization through its prize program, giving a total of $1,250,000 to more than 200 poets at various stages of their careers. The Academy also produces Poets.org, the world’s largest publicly funded website for poets and poetry; originated and organizes National Poetry Month; publishes the popular Poem-a-Day series and American Poets magazine; provides award-winning resources to K–12 educators, including the Teach This Poem series; hosts an annual series of poetry readings and special events; and coordinates a national Poetry Coalition working together to promote the value poets bring to the country’s culture. This year, in response to the global health crisis, the organization joined six other national organizations to launch Artist Relief, a multidisciplinary coalition of arts grantmakers and a consortium of foundations working to provide resources and funding to the country’s individual poets, writers, and artists who are impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.