5 Poems for People You Love

A poem for all the loved ones in your life for the month of Valentine's (including yourself!).




At Dr Jackson's, we celebrate all kinds of love: love that transcends age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, borders, and time.

We've curated the work of some of the world’s most powerful contemporary voices, who recognise love - in its various forms - as a force to shape the world we live in.


Whether it's for a friend, a lover, or simply yourself, we hope you can use these poems to show your appreciation, affection and support.


A poem for a partner


“Let me put it this way:
if you came to lay


your sleeping head
against my arm or sleeve,


and if my arm went dead,
or if I had to take my leave


at midnight, I should rather
cleave it from the joint or seam


than make a scene or bring you round...”


Let me put it this way by Simon Armitage


A poem for a lover


“Every glance can be a conversation, eyes just playing and saying what needs to be said.”


When I love, I love by Warsan Shire


A poem for family


“It is you who became yourself / but those before you / are a part of your fabric”


honour the roots by Rupi Kaur


A poem for a friend


“Friendship wants you to
have what it can make,
what it is trying
to make, with its
small moon hands, its
crescent hands criss-
crossing the night
& our cities swollen
with dream...”


Friendship by Chen Chen


A poem for yourself


“If I’m lonely
it’s with the rowboat ice-fast on the shore
in the last red light of the year
that knows what it is, that knows it’s neither
ice nor mud nor winter light
but wood, with a gift for burning”


Song by Adrienne Rich