SEED of THOUGHT: Love, After the Pivot

Valentine's Day is upon us. How perfect for a little poem! My selection is from the lexicon on love. Here, a Richard Brautigan poem, Romeo and Juliet (1970):

If you will die for me,
I will die for you
and our graves will be like
two lovers washing
their clothes together
in a laundromat.
If you will bring the soap,
I will bring the bleach.

It captures romantic love promising eternity. But with a bit of a cynic's reality. 

Your task is not to admire it. Your task is to translate it. The tone — the wry, cool restraint. The refusal to sentimentalize. The way devotion slips into the everyday of "laundry".

Share your result with Living English and the world on Instagram or X. Or better yet. Keep it for yourself. Beautifully render it in a journal or diary for your own reflection.

■ Conversational Frame

Have a conversation with a friend, a spouse, your favorite AI or yourself.

Tussle with the ideas in the poem:

• Is this cynical?

• Is this mature?

• Is routine a betrayal of romance — or its proof?

If you can have that discussion in English, good. If not, do so in rich, expressive Japanese. Move beyond your normal register either up or down.

A Collection of Helpful Vocabulary

1. unsentimental

Not cold — but resistant to exaggeration.

2. devotion

Commitment expressed through action.

3. domesticity

Shared life — the rituals, chores, rhythms of living together.

4. irony

A double awareness — saying one thing while meaning another.

5. banal

Ordinary to the point of almost dull.

Practice words like these in the study portal.

■ Make It Real

Log your discussion.

◻︎ A short post.
◻︎ A journal entry.
◻︎ A voice memo.
◻︎ Your own poem.
◻︎ Or better yet, in an image or drawing.

If you share publicly, tag Living English. If you keep it private — perfect.

Just put it somewhere intentional. A leather-bound notebook. A note on your phone. A place that treats your thinking with respect.

Give yourself that respect.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Study the poem and topic more deeply here.

IMAGE: Room in New York (1932), Edward Hopper