Proposal Poetry

A proposal poem is an occasional poem: it is written for one moment and one person, and it is meant to be said aloud. It shares the subject matter of love poetry but not its freedom, because a proposal makes a promise and asks a question. The occasion is the form. What separates a good proposal poem from a good love poem is the offer. A love poem describes what is felt; a proposal poem states what will be done, in the plainest terms available, and then risks the question. Grandeur works against it. Specificity works for it: the particular years, the particular habit, the particular argument that ends in bread. Distinguishing characteristics - Direct address, spoken, with the beloved present. - A shared history recalled in concrete detail, not in general terms. - A vow: what the speaker will do, in ordinary language. - An offer rather than a compliment: weather and rent, not perpetual sunshine. - A question at the end, which is the poem's turn. A brief original example, written for this platform Before I ask, let me say what I know: ten winters, and the way you warm your hands, the map of mornings only we have walked, the argument you always end with bread. I am not offering an unbroken sky or a life without its weather or its rent. I am offering the ordinary years, and this: will you walk the rest of them with me? How the example works The first four lines are the shared history, and every detail is particular: ten winters, warm hands, mornings walked, the bread that ends an argument. The middle lines refuse the false promise, which is what makes the last line credible. The question arrives at the end and is the whole point of the poem, so nothing follows it. Exercise to try Write a proposal poem of eight to twelve lines that could be spoken aloud in one breath, without a page. Begin with two facts only the two of you know, state one plain promise, and end on a question. Then read it to a wall and cut everything that sounds like a speech. Revising it Ask whether the poem is about the person or about the poem, and cut anything that shows off. Keep the vocabulary speakable, since a word that has to be pronounced carefully will break the moment. Check that the promise is one you can keep. If the last line can be answered with 'yes' or 'no' without embarrassment, the poem is finished; if it sounds like a test, it is not.