Sonnet to My Husband: My Process

It only took three years, but I finally finished this sonnet during a poetry writing workshop today with my students. 

The process:

I wanted to express my feelings toward my husband fairly soon after we were married and capture some of our first dating experiences. I started with some abstract thoughts on love. “Love is serenity, love is patience, love is humility…” From there, I thought of more concrete aspects I loved about my husband and created a list of sentences. “He listens with detachment and gives impassioned responses. He soothes my worries…” After a mini-lesson on indelible images–those moments that stay in our mind as pictures–I remembered the moment I knew I was going to fall in love with this guy: I glanced at his forearms and was smitten. I wanted to write a sonnet, but I wasn’t ready to craft one yet, so I decided to create a more poetic write-up of the indelible moment. Then it was a matter of crafting each line with the required amount of syllables and rhymes. To reach the rhyme, I did have to create lists of possible words to work toward. In fact, I knew I liked the first line, so I wrote a list of words that rhymed with “love” (dove, glove, above…shove) and progressed from there. I definitely had to move words around and edit ideas, but the first two quatrains came fairly quickly. However, I walked away from this piece for two years. 

Today, I decided it was time to finish. I went back to that original list of concrete things I love about my husband and searched for some words to write the final quatrain. My students helped me craft the twelfth line. My second group of students helped me find the couplet, but it took summarizing each of the three quatrains to figure out the big message with which I wanted to end my sonnet.

How did I know your heart would meet mine, love?

Your muscled forearms grabbed my glance with force.

In moment’s space, new eyes did see this shove,

And needing you, I moved without remorse.

Each time we met, I glanced away, afraid

To lose the other friend who guarded me,

But I could not forget the moment laid

When your dear arms caressed my heart to be.

Now your heart matters most to my heart here–

I love you more than glances, moments spare.

When anxious loads o’erhang my peace, I fear

No more those hailstorms that our life may share.

Here finding honesty in your repose,

I love each day with you that comes and goes.