Comparisson of Two Love Poems

The two works I have chosen that address the same theme are “Hate Poem” by Julie Sheehan and “Please Come Late” by Hugo Williams in the book 180 More Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. These poems come together on the subject of love.

The “Hate Poem” uses the word “hate” many times. What you come to figure out is that the “hate” word really means love. The narrator is constantly thinking about her significant other. When she says, “My breast relaxing in their holster from morning to night hate you.” (22-23), give away the fact that these two people had an intimate relationship. When reading this poem, it's easy to understand that the slightest things remind her of her lover. For example, “The flick of my wrist hates you.” (3) or “The way I hold my pencil hates you.” (4). She confesses in the end that no matter how much she “hates” him, she can never have enough of him in the line “My lungs, duplicitous twins, expand with the utter validity of my hate, which can never have enough of you.” (28-29). She lets us know she was very comfortable with him in the line “You know how when I’m sleepy I nuzzle my head under your arm? Hate.” (20-21). When she says, “My hesitation when you invite me for a ride: hate.” (18), she is really saying she gets nervous to see him and spend time with him not that she is hesitant to spend time with him because she “hates” him.

To summarize, the poem “Please Come Late”, is about a guy who is waiting for someone he loves to come back. He is so exhausted from waiting for his significant other that he is outworking his mind trying to convince himself that he is over her when he is still in love with her. He tells us “I’m on my second coffee by now”. It is easy to conclude that he loves her if he is willing to wait after he is passed a late coffee waiting for her. He tries to make excuses for her when he says, “praying you are lost.” (8), he does this as a form of reassuring himself that she is still with him even though she is not. He confesses there is nothing more left to them but that he will continue to wait and be there for her if she decides to ever come back when he says, “I know it is all over between us, but I go on sitting here” (24-25). It’s obvious he is in love with her in the line “thinking everyone is you” (4). If someone starts imagining things and thinking everyone is one specific person, it must mean they are constantly thinking about them and it is gotten so serious to the point where they see only them.

In both poems, the narrators have a hard time accepting their feelings towards their significant other. They are both constantly thinking about their lover. They are in denial that they love this person they are writing about. In the “Hate Poem”, the word hate is used as a double entendre really meaning love and in “Please Come Late” the narrator is constantly making excuses for his lover in hope that one day she will return. Both poems have their own way of expressing the love they hold for their significant other but denial is one thing they for sure share.