Valentines for the Wistful Lesbian
This is the first Valentine's Day that I've been dating someone in long time, so it's time to get earnest, bitch. Here's some of my favorite art about love.
Poems
What I Didn’t Know Before by Ada Limon
“What was between / us wasn’t a fragile thing to be coddled, cooed / over. It came out fully formed, ready to run.”
State Bird by Ada Limon
“But, love, I’ll concede this: / whatever state you are, I’ll be that state’s bird, / the loud, obvious blur of song people point to / when they wonder where it is you’ve gone.”
A Boy Steps Into the Water by Kaveh Akbar
“a body loudly / consumes days and awaits the slow / fibrillation of its heart”
Gay Pride Weekend, S.F., 1992 by Brenda Shaughnessy
The love we made leapt / to life like a cat in the space / between us (if there ever was / space between us), and looked / back at us through fog.”
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
“Don’t we touch each other just to prove we are still here? I was still here once.”
Fragment 22 by Sappho, translated by Anne Carson
“In fact she herself once blamed me / Kyprogeneia / because I prayed / this word: / I want”
You can also read my recent poem love as a field of study.
Music
You can listen to the full playlist on Spotify here, but here are some selections:
Mystery of Love by Sufjan Stevens
Nobody Gets Me by SZA
First Day of My Life by Bright Eyes
Shut Up Kiss Me by Angel Olsen
We’ll Never Have Sex by Leith Ross
I Like You by dandelion hands
I Exist I Exist I Exist by Flatsound
Wasteland, Baby! by Hozier
When You’re Smiling and Astride Me by Father John Misty
Simply the Best by Noah Reid (from Schitt’s Creek)
Francis Forever by Mitski
Art
In Bed The Kiss by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederic William Burton
The Kiss by Gustav Klimt