How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Poems...

a graphic of multicolored hearts all over a dark pink background with one central heart in white

As much as we love poetry around here, we know that poems, especially love poems, are not exactly one size fits all. With that in mind, whether you're looking for a poem for your current crush, or the one who got away, we have you covered. Click on the name of each poem to read the whole thing. (For more poems with a ton of heart, check some of our go-to sources: poetryoutloud.org, poets.org, and poetryfoundation.org.

FOR YOUR NEW CRUSH

graphic of a biological heart in red on a pink background with text of quote and poets name in white on black backround

"I am not yours, not lost in you,/Not lost, although I long to be…" — "I Am Not Yours" by Sara Teasdale

FOR YOUR CRUSH THAT YOU'VE HAD FOR-EV-ER

A red open heart tilted on its side against a pink background seems to drift off the top of the page. The quote is in black and the author's name in red on the lower left of the image

"… only my love for you/ despite the charms of gravity/ keeps me from falling off this Earth/ into another dimension." — "Resignation" by Nikki Giovanni

FOR BAE

Text of the poem and the author's name in white against a red heart background. The heart lies on top of a fuschia background. There are also red rays radiating from the heart.

"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways./ I love thee to the depth and breadth and height/ My soul can reach…." — Sonnet 43 (from Sonnets from the Portuguese) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

FOR YOUR BFF

The outline of a pink heart sits against a red background. The text of the poem is in black against a white rectangle inside the heart. The author's name is in black text against a white rectangle outside the heart on the bottom right

"...it is hard to believe when I’m with you that there can be anything as still/ as solemn as unpleasantly definitive as statuary..." — "Having a Coke with You" by Frank O'Hara

FOR YOUR UNREQUITED LOVE

A peach colored heart against a red background. The text of the poem and the authors name are in black against white type inside the peach heart

"How should we like it were stars to burn/ With a passion for us we could not return?" — "The More Loving One" by W. H. Auden

FOR THE ONE WHO GOT AWAY

a winged red heart is tilted to the left against a slightly darker red background. The lines of the poem are written in white. The authors name is in a cutout outline in a neon red

"Every night I sleep on alternate// sides of the bed, as if to duplicate/ sleeping with you…." — "Multiple Man: Guest-starring me & you" by Gary Jackson