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Man successfully captures the feeling of real, lasting love in poem for his wife

There's a reason people ask to have Harry Baker's "Dust" read at their wedding.

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Love finds beauty and joy in the mundane.

For centuries, perhaps millennia, poets have tried to capture the essence of the most profound human feelings. While success on that front is subjective—a poem that hits one person right in the heart may have little effect on someone else—there are some poets who manage to strike a universal chord on themes that are hard to put into words.

World Poetry Slam Champion Harry Baker has done that with one of life's most beautiful but underrated experiences—to love and be loved by a partner in the most basic, everyday ways. Nothing fancy. Nothing that requires a massive effort. Just the daily joys and routines that make marriage or a life partnership the comforting, safe place it can be.

@harrybakerpoet

NOW AVAILABLE AS A PRINT ON MY WEBSITE ✨ I wrote this for my wife and so am always thrilled when people tell me they’ve had it or heard it at a wedding - After years of requests I have finally teamed up with @Katie to make it into four different options of stunning print 💙💙🤍🤍 🎥 @Liam Bagnall #poetry #poetrytok #spokenword #lovepoem #wedding

Baker wrote the poem "Dust" for his wife, and it's clear he speaks from experience. "It's not the flowers, it's the weeding in the mud with you," he begins. "It's not the champagne, it's that cuppa in that favorite mug you use."

His poem hits at the heart of what makes genuine, lasting love what it is—not the stereotypical symbols of romance (flowers, champagne, chocolate, fancy food) but the daily work, the shared indulgences, the knowing what makes one another truly happy, and the joy in those everyday realities.

The poem has funny parts throughout, which only makes it more perfect. Humor is such a part of real love that any love poem feels incomplete without it.

love, love poem, harry baker, true love, marriage Love makes us laugh.Photo credit: Canva

But it's seriously profound as well: "It's not the dreaming, it's the waking up with you. I want to be here long enough to gather dust with you."

When he speaks of the "glorious consistency," the "everyday magnificence" and the "spectacular normality" of loving his wife, anyone who has been in a long and happy relationship understands exactly what he means. Fireworks are fine, but it's the slow-burning fire that creates a warm home—a home where we know we are safe and cherished just as we are.

Baker shared that "Dust" is his most requested poem for people to use at weddings, and it's easy to see why. The comment section is filled with people who say they had part or all of it read at their weddings, along with people praising Baker for hitting the nail on the head with his words:

"Why do I always get brought to tears when I hear something that perfectly captures an emotion? Idk, but this made me cry. Couldn’t have said it better."

"I have heard this 1000 times, and I cannot get enough. Tears every single time 🥺 You’re amazing Harry ♥"

love, love poem, harry baker, true love, marriage Love joyfully gathers dust. Photo credit: Canva

"My sister read this for us at our wedding and everyone LOVED it!! It will forever be one of my favourite memories, thank you for your poetry!!!"

"I showed this to my best fiend, and she cried. Now she’s reading it at our wedding next year 🤍 thank you for writing such a beautiful poem."

"All of this. Thirty years of marriage this month and he’s still the best part of my day ❤"

"I have stage 4 cancer and you are saying everything in my heart I want my husband to know before I leave here. 🥰"

"As a widow this hits so hard. 💜"

Baker's "Dust" is truly a gift to those who know and appreciate the simple joys of a solid, lifelong partnership.

You can find the poem in Baker's second book, "Unashamed," and you can find more of his work on his website. You can also follow him on TikTok and Instagram to see more of his spoken word performances.

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A poet wrote about meeting her younger self for coffee and launched cathartic viral trend

Women are creating healing "I met my younger self for coffee" poems as they reflect on how far they've come.

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If you could meet your younger self for coffee, what would you say?

Life is complex and our feelings about our lives even moreso, which is why we humans so often turn to art as a means of processing it all. Poetry in particular has the power to distill complexity into a beautifully simple form, allowing us to succinctly express feelings that are difficult to describe. As Robert Frost wrote, "Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has found words," and a skilled poet can help us all find words for our own thoughts and emotions.

A poem by Jennae Cecelia from her upcoming book "Deep in My Feels" has kicked off a viral wave of poetic expression as women reflect on how they've grown and changed since they were younger. Cecelia's poem begins, "i met my younger self for coffee at 10:15," and goes on to describe a lovely, compassionate interaction with her younger self, all while contrasting that younger self with the woman she has become.

People loved the poem so much they used it as inspiration for their own "meeting my younger self for coffee" writing exercises, and the various iterations, at once so personal yet universal, have taken TikTok and Instagram by storm. Some are just written on blank backgrounds as images. Others are videos with the poem overlaid and music in the background.

But what they share in common is the sentiment of wanting to let our younger selves know it was going to be okay. That life is hard but there are good things coming around the corner. That whatever she's feeling or going through now will someday just be a memory.

Some poems have come from women who are still young but fully adult now, speaking to their teen selves.

@jasbethany_

Visit TikTok to discover videos!

Others come from moms in the thick of parenting, reassuring their younger selves that their dreams of having a family have come true, while others show that they took a different path than they planned and it turned out fine.

@katrice_taylor

🤎 #imetmyoungerselfforcoffee #momtok #momsoftiktok #blackmomsoftiktok

The trend is moving people to tears, offering hope to people who are still in those uncertain younger self years, when the possibilities of life seem endless and yet so much feels impossible. Many are finding solace in seeing people's before and after stories, as they serve as a reminder that life is malleable, that the future isn't set in stone, that people can endure and overcome.

@puffy817

Why did this trend heal a little bit in me while I wrote it IB: @Jennae Cecelia Poetry #coffeewithmyyoungerself #parati

Many resonate with the message that whatever struggles we're dealing with now we likely won't be in the future. And, of course, there will always be new struggles we're dealing with but with age and experience we hopefully learn about our own strength to endure. We also hopefully still have dreams to catch.

Cecelia says she is glad that her poem has inspired so many people to create their own versions of it, adding a rightful request to be credited for her work. She shares that the poem is part of a new collection of poetry that she describes as "a dream come true." Her previous poetry books have been self-published, but for this book she landed a deal with a publisher and is thrilled by the idea of having her book available in bookstores and not just online.

"This book is personal" Cecelia says. "It’s a reflection of love, loss, growth, and all the emotions we’re sometimes afraid to name. It’s a reminder that vulnerability isn’t just okay—it’s necessary. Inside, you’ll find poems that sit with you in life’s highs and lows, including the one about, 'meeting your younger self for coffee'—a favorite in the collection."

You can find "Deep in My Feels" for pre-order on Amazon and you can learn more about Cecelia and her work at jennaececelia.com.

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Woody Harrelson wrote a hilarious little poem for his viral baby doppelgänger

His response was so wholesome.

@DanielleKGrier/Twitter

Baby Cora bears a striking resemblance to actor Woody Harrelson.

We can all get a little fascinated by doppelgängers and it's fun to find people who look alike. But what do you do when your baby girl looks uncannily like a famous middle-aged man?

In 2022, mom Dani Grier Mulvenna shared a photo of her infant daughter Cora side by side with a photo of Woody Harrelson on X (formerly Twitter), with the caption, "Ok but how does our daughter look like Woody Harrelson." The resemblance truly is remarkable, and the tweet quickly racked up hundreds of thousands of likes, shares, and replies.

Naturally, the jokes about Harrelson being the baby's secret father came next, but then Harrelson himself got wind of it.

The actor shared a screenshot of Mulvenna's tweet on his Instagram page and included a delightful little poem he called "Ode to Cora."

You're an adorable child
Flattered to be compared
You have a wonderful smile
I just wish I had your hair


How adorable and wholesome is that? Not only did he acknowledge his look-alike, but he even made a self-deprecating joke about his receding hairline.

People gushed in the comments and Mulvenna shared how tickled her daughter will be someday by the connection.

"You've made our day ❤️ can't wait to show her this when she's older, you have another fan for life xxx," she wrote. Mulvenna also shared on X that her daughter doesn't always look like Woody Harrelson, but when she does, she really does.

What a cutie. What's hilarious is that sweet little Cora has no clue about any of this excitement and she won't for many more years. What a fun story her parents will be able to share with her.

Social media has created a world where people can connect in ways they never would have before. When these platforms are so often used for negative means, it's lovely to see something so sweet and pure come out of them.


This article originally appeared on three years ago.

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92-year-old former ballet dancer with dementia wrote a poem that has us all wrecked

What a beautiful gut punch.

Photo credit: Canva

"I am still a dancer made of song."

Humans have been writing poetry for thousands of years, communicating feelings and ideas in beautiful, powerful ways that prose just can't quite reach. Poetry can be hard to define, but you know it when you see it—or rather, when you feel it.

Emily Dickinson once wrote, “If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” A poem hits you somewhere—your brain, your heart, your gut. And one poem that packs an incredibly moving punch has come from an unlikely source—an elderly woman with dementia.

Poet Joseph Fasano shared a message from a fan who shared that they had brought his book, "The Magic Words: Simple Poetry Prompts That Unlock the Creativity in Everyone," to their mother, a 92-year-old former ballet dancer living with dementia. The mother was excited to write a poem, and they slowly worked through a prompt from the book together aloud.

This poem was the result:

"Let the days be warm

Let the fall be long.

Let every child inside me find her shoes

and dance wildly, softly, toward the world.

I have a story I have never told

Once, when I was small,

I looked up at the sky and saw the wind

and knew I was a dancer made of song.

I am still a dancer made of song."

Wow. What a testament to the power of poetry to reach beyond our usual modes of communication, which dementia so cruelly disrupts. In a few simple lines, we're able to see this woman as she might see herself, as the human living under the veils of age and disease: "I am still a dancer made of song."

Poetry prompts can help people express themselves

The person who shared the poem thanked Fasano for "helping people find their voices," which is exactly what his book of poetry prompts was meant to do.

The Magic Words book"The Magic Words" is a book of poetry prompts from Joseph Fasano.Amazon

In the book's introduction, Fasano shares that he'd been invited to speak to a class of second graders in New Jersey in 2022 to share "the craft and magic of poetry." As part of his efforts, he came up with a poetry prompt that could "help guide their imaginations" and "unlock the images, thoughts and feelings inside them, without asking them to worry about how to structure a poem." He called the results "astonishing." When he shared one of the students' poems on social media, it and the prompt took off like wildfire, as people who never thought of themselves as poets felt empowered to share their imaginations within that framework.

From 7-year-olds to 92-year-olds, anyone can benefit from the self-expression that poetry facilitates, but many people feel hesitant or intimidated by the idea of writing a poem. Fasano writes, "Poetry is what happens when we let ourselves be," and this idea seems so clear than in the former dancer's poem above. Dementia can create roadblocks, but poetry provides a different avenue of communication.

younger woman looking at a book with an older womanCaregivers try many different ways to communicate with people living with dementia.Photo credit: Canva

The arts can be a powerful tool for people with dementia

Using poetry to help dementia patients communicate and express themselves isn't just wishful thinking. Studies have demonstrated that cultural arts interventions, including poetry specifically, can be beneficial for people with dementia. In fact, the Alzheimer's Poetry Project (APP) aims to use poetry as a means of improving the quality of life of people living with dementia by facilitating creative expression. "We do not set boundaries in our beliefs in what possible for people with memory impairment to create," the APP website states. "By saying to people with dementia, we value you and your creativity; we are saying we value all members of our community."

Poet Gary Glazner founded APP and shared a story with WXPR radio about how he came up with the idea while studying poetry at Sonoma State University:

“I applied for a grant and got a grant to work at an adult care program. The moment I love to share with people is there was a guy in the group, head down, not participating and I said the Longfellow poem. ‘I shot an arrow into the air’ and his eyes popped open and he said, ‘It fell to earth I know not where.’ And suddenly he was with us and participating. It was just this powerful moment to see how poetry could be of use to elders but specifically with people with dementia."

Whether we read it, write it, speak it or hear it, poetry has the power to reach people of all ages in all kinds of mysterious ways.

You can follow Joseph Fasano on Twitter and Instagram, and find his books on Amazon.

This article originally appeared last year.

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