Miller Williams Love Poem Analysis

“Love Poem With Toast” by Miller Williams introduces the effect our desires have in our daily lives in order to “move, as we call it, forward” (11). Miller Williams also conveys this message accompanied with a darker meaning; though these desires make up a large part of our lives, in the end none of it will matter because we leave the world the same way we enter it, with nothing. Despite this message being carried out, it is still a love poem at the surface, but it is not about a person confessing their love, rather pretending to love, and continuing to live with this self-conflict about choosing to be in a frigid relationship over not being in one at all. It is interesting how Miller rhythmically categorizes his message throughout the poem;

Williams uses dry and subtle words such as “car”, “coffee”, or even plain “water” to create this powerful and foreboding poem which is interpreted pessimistically after getting past the tedious words. Its implicit meaning can be hard to grasp because it is deeply embedded into the poem and also implies the opposite of what we are taught as humans; we grow up with plans, goals, desires too, and Williams opens the reader’s eyes to explain the pointlessness of it all. Williams writes this poem knowing he will contradict everything people learn to do starting from a young age. In spite of this, it may inspire readers to stop worrying about the small things and focus on the grand scheme, maybe get them “wanting to love beyond this meat and bone,” despite its adverse meaning (21). Ultimately, the author subduedly goes against the ideal rules of life and allows the reader to interpret it however they want- either explicitly understand that it is normal for humans to want thing, not want things, and be wanted, or implicitly understand that there is no point in investing in our desires, for when we die, our goals- both the finished and unfinished- will not matter in the