When writing a love poem, most people focus on the words. They search high and low for the language that will help them communicate exactly how they feel. Unfortunately, love poems are not about “love” words; they are about sentiments and images. A good example of this is Nikki Giovanni’s “I Wrote a Good Omelet”:
I wrote a good omelet…and ate a hot poem…
after loving you
Buttoned my car…and drove my coat home…in the
rain…
after loving you
I goed on red…and stopped on green….floating
somewhere in between…
being here and being there…
after loving you
I rolled my bed…turned down my hair…slightly
confused but…I don’t care…
Laid out my teeth…and gargled my gown…then I stood
…and laid me down…
to sleep…
after loving you
In this piece Giovanni expresses a sentiment that is so intrinsic to falling in love: euphoric distraction. However, Giovanni never says that she is so crazy about her new love that she cannot think straight and she is totally screwing up everyday tasks. Instead, she uses the actual images of confusion to express the “experience” of this euphoric distraction.
“I Wrote a Good Omelet” is not a complicated love poem but it is packed with sentiment and images, so we get it. We understand her experience with love, even with her use of simple words.
