Chivalry and love on this campus are not dead but merely lost in the wind. To revitalize our generation’s lost passion for love, we need to bring back an old-school practice of showing affection to our beloveds: writing love letters and poems.
The first and only love letter I ever received came when I studied abroad in Spain last summer. During the month I spent in a small city outside of Madrid, I went on a couple of dates a week with a guy I met in a bar on my first night there. I called him my “novio,” or boyfriend in Spanish. Dating him worked out well because, after one week in Spain, my phone and credit card were stolen at a music festival. With no money in a foreign country, his free drinks and movie tickets helped soothe the pain. Thankfully we could still communicate via Instagram direct message on my laptop.
He was studying Romance languages at a university in Spain, so he decided to use his skills from school to write me a letter with poems about how much he enjoyed his time with me. In an attempt to have an indie study abroad experience, I read the letter for the first time in the airport — moments before boarding the plane back to New York. The letter was in cursive Spanish. I’m not necessarily fluent or adept at reading cursive, but I got the gist of what he was saying. It was a sweet way for me to remember the little life I started thousands of miles away from home.
And although his letter was kind of cringe, I liked it. It made me feel like I had a meaningful connection with this man despite knowing him for just a few weeks. Realistically, I will never see him again, but the letter is a nice physical object to remember my time with him. These days everything is digital, so I like having his writing on paper.
No plans for Valentine’s Day? You may not be alone and sad with my help. Write your situationship, or whoever you want to spend the holiday with, a poem. At the end of last semester, I wrote my campus crush a poem in hopes of seducing him. I thought: who wants a boring “hey” message? I needed something that would elicit a response. Something that no one could ignore. While calling my friend from home for advice, I started spitting bars. I immediately wrote them down, and with the help of my suitemate, we turned them into a poem:
Dear [REDACTED],
Your face is so beautiful,
come climb in my bed.
Answer my DM,
and I’ll give you some head.
[REDACTED]y, dear [REDACTED]y,
You fill me with glee.
So let’s get together,
I’ll be down on my knees.
Fortunately, I did get a response. With high hopes from his message, I sent him my phone number. Unfortunately, I did not get a text afterward. Two months later, though, I am still hopeful!
Boo bear, if you’re reading this, I forgive you <3. It’s not too late. You can still answer. I’ll wait as long as it takes for you. You’ll never get away from the sound of the twink that loves you.
Anyway, don’t take my rejection as a disincentive to write a love poem. Well, it kind of is, but then again no one has the balls these days to do anything like that. No one is willing to take a chance. Embrace rejection and embarrassment. You’ll surely stand out from the others with your poem, and hopefully in a positive way.
I see my campus crush around all the time now, but only after I sent that poem. It’s like magic. That’s just the way the universe works. But I don’t care! I took a chance, and I fell flat on my face. That’s fine! His loss.
When writing your literature, get silly with it. Get creative. Get grotesque. Talk about how you want to “slurp that D,” or even just how much you love your partner (if you’re a prude). If you need some inspiration, just look around you. The world is beautiful, and you can channel that to get yourself some action.
I hope you decide to listen to my advice. Even if you get rejected, we’re in this together. You only live once, and you don’t want any regrets.
Send me your best poem, and maybe I’ll slurp your meat this Valentine’s Day.
Stevie Dicks is a second-year student in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. His fortnightly column Ballads of a Lonely Twink chronicles a young gay man’s search for love.
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