“Valentine for Ernest Mann” operates as an Ars Poetica, or a poem that explains the function, art, and purpose of poetry. In the Academy of American Poets Poet-to-Poet project, Nye recounts the poem’s origins and the fateful meeting with Ernest Mann on Valentine’s Day when he requested the poem (“Poet-to-Poet: Naomi Shihab Nye, ‘Valentine for Ernest Mann.’” YouTube, YouTube, 4 Feb. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBH6GNHbp1Y). As she grappled with how to reply to his request, she recalled a story that some close friends had revealed to her about two skunks as a Valentine’s Day gift and decided to weave the two stories together as one poem. In doing so, she poses the question “where does one find poetry?” as she simultaneously gives her own answer: by living “in a way that lets us find [poems]” (Line 13). While the original audience for the poem was Ernest, to whom she ultimately did mail the poem, the poem’s wider publication broadens the conversation around poetry, how to find it, and how it connects us to a larger community.

The poem’s intention is to examine the role of poetry in everyday life. In approaching this question, Nye concludes that like the man who saw the skunks as valentines, we must “re-invent whatever our lives give us” (Line 26).