Most think the iconic Valentine heart to be loosely modeled on the fist-sized pump that pushes lifeblood through our internal plumbing. You won’t find me denigrating this vital lump of meat, this organ that never wants or asks for a day off, that takes no paid or unpaid holidays, no time and a half, no vacation, no sick days. No. You are not going far, or long, without its relentless pulsing from your first breath to your last.
As easy and tempting as it might be to imagine this noble metronome as the symbol of love and fidelity, one has only to look to the photo above to see the true inspiration for the Valentine Heart. This should be enough to convince the most diehard fan of the heart to switch allegiance. Though I know my own once-beautiful, athletic heinie might have been considered the poster boy for same, alas, it is no longer true. I think I speak for most of us when I express a preference for a smoothe Valentine heart rather than a wooly one.
Valentine’s Day, the Day of Love, has just passed but let’s spend this Sunday contemplating Cupid’s handiwork. The first treasure I would share with you is this 2010 Oscar-winning short by Luke Matheny. Without further ado, I give you, THE GOD OF LOVE. Trust me, you’re gonna love this.
So much is written about love. A friend of mine once posited that literally every poem or sonnet written, every song sung, sculpture sculpted, every dance, film, in short, every human artistic endeavor ever made, is, in some way, about love. I hear you shaking your head. I did too. But upon closer examination, darn if it mightn’t be true. The following is a free verse poem I wrote and performed a few times with world-renowned, (deservedly so), cellist, Eugene Friesen, improvising accompaniment. You’ll have to imagine the music part.
THE MANY NAMES OF LOVE - By Alki Steriopoulos
Love.
Love, love, love, love, love. Love.
What is love?
Love is what the world needs now, what makes the world go ‘round, (means) never having to say you’re sorry.
Love that leaves you gagged and bound, a many splendoured thing, better the second time around, love is all you need.
Love for sale, what money cannot buy, a thing that makes you cry, and bleed.
How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
There’s crazy love, lazy love, puppy love, first love. Ex-love, sex love, and quadruple-x love. Platonic love, laconic love, Slavonic love, and slaves to love. There’s nasty love, funky love, fools in love, folks made for love. A love supreme, a love divine, a love of food, a love of wine.
There’s true love, self-love, Buddha love, elf love.
Christ love, spice love, Love thy neighbor, but not thy neighbor’s wife love.
Ill-fated love, dated love, I’ve heard there’s even sated love. Onanism, bone-in-ism, all left home alone-ism. There’s star-crossed love, starry-eyed love, love in the air, eternal love, love at first sight, love out-of-sight, love that is be-knighted and love that’s unrequited.
No greater love hath man than to lay down his life for another. No greater love hath anyone, than that that is your mother.
Who do you love? Love the one you’re with.
I love you. You love me? Can you feel the love? There’s no love lost between us.
Better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.
The older I get, the more I love my dog.
Love bites, love taps, love bucks, love sucks, Winnie-the Pooh love, Honey, I’m through love.
There’s love that’s fair in love and war, and love that is a game. Love sublime, crimes of love, love that dares not speak its name.
There’s love of God and love of country, blind love, lucky in love, and love power.
Love growing by the hour.
We’re going to a love-in, in the city of brotherly lovin’.
There’s love of cats, love of children, love that is familial, supercilial, filial. Aa face that only a mother could love. She’s got the look of love, it’s on her face.
And remember, all the world loves a lover. With love, Alki
© Alki Steriopoulos circa 1999. First Rev. 2/10/2011, Second Rev/ 2/11/2025
And finally, a song. I hope you enjoy these musical bon-bons. I do the best I can with Shan’s help but they are, and most likely will always, be, by their very nature, imperfect. Yet in their guerrilla production values, they are perfectly imperfect, live and real and unadorned. until next week… I am cupidly, stupidly alki
In my mind, it was on the ballad album they did together. I think I confused it with MY ONE AND ONLY LOVE. Thanks for keeping me honest, Su! Ladies and gentlemen, forgive my old-fart moment. Su, did you love that video, GOD OF LOVE? After your own, THE SOURCE, it is my second favorite short video for coolness.
Indeed, love may be the very breadth and soul of irony. Thanks for sharing that, Marco.