We asked some of our favourite authors to complete the famous Valentine's verse 'Roses are red, violets are blue...' in whatever way they liked. This is what happened. Interspersed with these romantic nuggets are some recommendations for enchanting collections of love poetry.

Leigh Bardugo (@LBardugo)

Roses are red

Holly Black (@hollyblack)

Shakespeare's Sonnets William Shakespeare £5.99 Paperback In stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours A perfectly portable volume of some of the finest poetry ever written, Shakespeare’s 154 sonnets have become immortal representations of every human emotion from love to mortality. Sublimely structured and linguistically dazzling, these are miniature masterpieces that you always want close to hand. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout





Vampires are pale

Christopher Brookmyre (@cbrookmyre)

Roses are red

Jenny Colgan (@jennycolgan)

Poems to Fall in Love With Chris Riddell £12.99 Hardback 10+ in stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours In the wake of the divine Poems to Live Your Life By, Chris Riddell adorns a selection of his favourite love poetry with a suite of typically gorgeous and intricate illustrations. From Shakespeare to Gaiman via Walcott and Cummings, Poems to Fall in Love With is a simply stunning fusion of verse and art. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout





Roses are red

John Connolly (@jconnollybooks)





Chris Ridell and Paul Stewart

On Love Charles Bukowski, Abel Debritto £9.99 Paperback 5+ in stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours The great American poet addresses both the transcendent and profane aspects of love in this remarkably rich and earthy volume. Revelling in the seamy side of life yet possessing an almost spiritual belief in the power of romantic love, however rough-hewn, Bukowski surprises and enthralls with every line. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout

Lindsey Davis

My roses have turned blue

Laura Dockrill (@LauraDockrill)

The World's Most Treasured Love Poems Suheil Bushrui £9.99 Hardback In stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours A wonderfully diverse collection in which Western icons rub shoulders with lesser-known poets from around the globe, The World’s Most Treasured Love Poems provides a unique examination of the human heart. Beautifully presented and culturally wide-ranging, this is romantic verse writ large. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout





Roses are red

Matt Haig (@matthaig1)

Roses are red

Sophie Hannah (@SophiehannahCB1)

Love Poems Carol Ann Duffy £9.99 Paperback 10+ in stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours The former Poet Laureate delineates the full emotional range of various forms of love in this sprightly, compassionate volume. From wild passion to contented affection, every line is wise and true, adding up to a masterclass in accessible modern poetry for the heart and soul. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout

Roses are red

Natalie Haynes

Roses are red,

Erica James (@TheEricaJames)

Twenty Love Poems Pablo Neruda £7.99 Paperback 10+ in stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours One of the most revered Latin American poets, Pablo Neruda was an undisputed master of erotic verse and Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair stands as testament to his adroit lyricism and nuanced craft. Containing some of his very finest work, this collection is a touchstone of twentieth-century poetry. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout





Roses are red

Lauren Kate (@laurenkatebooks)

Roses are red,

Sarra Manning (@sarramanning)

The Poetry of Sex Sophie Hannah £9.99 Paperback In stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours From Ancient Rome to contemporary New York Sophie Hannah’s rambunctious history of poetic sex takes in passion, desire, regret and ecstasy with wit and candour. Diverse and eye-opening, this singular anthology contains a myriad of licentious verse and erotic lyricism. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout





Roses are red,

Alexander McCall Smith (@McCallSmith)

"Roses are red,

Kevin Maher (@KevinTMaher)

Rumi: The Book of Love Coleman Barks £9.99 Paperback In stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours No poet was as forensic in their dissection of every aspect of love as the great Persian polymath and his Book of Love is a veritable anatomy of emotion and desire. With a perception and universality as relevant nearly ten centuries after they were written, the poems in this collection are an astounding feat of literary skill. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout

Roses are red

Denise Mina (@DameDeniseMina)

Roses are only sometimes red

Patrick Ness (@Patrick_Ness)

Penguin's Poems for Love Laura Barber, Laura Barber £10.99 Paperback In stock Usually dispatched within 24 hours The most adored love poetry in history gathered together in an attractively packaged volume. All the legendary figures are represented, from Donne to Dickinson and beyond, in a festival of iconic verse covering all aspects of love and romance. Add to basket Click & Collect This item has been added to your basket View basket Checkout

Roses are red,

Kate Rhodes (@K_RhodesWriter)

Roses are red,

Rainbow Rowell (@rainbowrowell)

Roses are red,

Nina Stibbe (@ninastibbe)

Roses are red

Naomi Wood (@NaomiWoodBooks)

Roses are redViolets don't stayThe sexiest charactersAre morally greyRoses are redThe Darkling wears blackMy love is as fierceAs a volcra attack.Violets are blueGive someone a bookAnd they'll sleep with youWerewolves are fluffyBollocks to TwilightI still love Buffy.Violets are blueYou like 70s muscle carsI like Doctor WhoYou like beetrootI would feed it to horsesYou like plain steamed thingsAnd I like cheese coursesYou run in races,Love hunts, tents and hooksI like indoor placesWith fires, and booksNo-one can sayWhy we work as we doWe are just so differentThing One and Thing Two.But when all is gone and we are both long dead,Rose redWe’ll still know the core and soul of us was true.Boy Blue.Violets are blueAngelina's takenSo you'll have to do.Roses are redViolets are blueWhether you’re faithfulI cannot construe.Violets are blueRoses are redBut if you are cheating,Lover, you’re dead!My violets appear red,And I no longer fancy you,I fancy myself instead.And various other coloursViolets are violetIf we're being specific.(I believe it was this attention to detail that made you fall in love with me).Violets are blueA body can strayWhile a heart stays true.Violets are purplePeople just say they're blueCos rhyming's a hurdle.Violets are blue,I’d rather be deadThan stuck with you!Violets are blueWhy stop at one Valentine?Love triangles give us two.Violets are blue,but all flowers witherjust like my love for you *sadface*(I think the *sadface* is very ee cummings)Roses are red,Violets are blue,I only snogged Benedict Cumberbatchbecause he begged me too.violets are blueI’m slightly adhesiveBut I’ll stick to you.violets are blue...romantic love is an ideological construct, but it's a beautiful ideological construct, and rooted, we all secretly believe, and fundamentally know, in the softest, sweetest, most hopeful part of our being. Plus, it's better than being alone and blankly masturbating into the Abyss. Although that can get a bit messy. Especially if it's the director's cut, the one with the giant waves and the threat of nuclear armageddon, and the bit where everyone thinks the baldy guy is dead, but he comes back to life because he's been saved by underwater aliens, but secretly it's because he's distraught without his ex-wife, and he believes fully in the power of, yep, romantic love. See. You can't get away from it. Even right now. There's a couple on the table opposite me. Japanese. And they're just kind of, well, hugging. Heads clunking together. No conversation. Just hugging. It's utterly beautiful. I could cry. No, wait. Hang on. She's got her phone out. Ah shit. Now she's texting. And he's watching her text. No. wait. Hold on. His phone has just gone. He's looking at it. She's looking at him looking at his phone. He's smiling. She's clearly just texted, Bluetoothed, or Airdropped a message, and he's looking at her, looking at him, looking at his phone, looking at the message she sent to him while he was looking at her, looking at her phone. I can't see, from here, exactly what she's sent, but I'm guessing it's something like, "I, like, totally love you, you are my life in every possible way, I can't breathe without you, and maybe we should turn off our f***ing phones and go back to clunking heads together, and stuff." Either way, I rest my case. Romantic love, like Derrida used to say about inherent narrative structure, is simply there, like life itself. You can't fight it. You can't deny it. But to hold onto it when you've got it, and to make it last, now there's a trick!"Violets are blue,Sugar is addictive,I think you're brilliant.Violets are never really blueDo you really need a national holidayTo remember to say, "I love you"?violets are blue.Mikey stared at the words inside the Valentine’s card and wondered why they made him feel hollow. Maybe it was because he was colour blind and had never liked flowers anyway. Plenty of much more exciting things were either red or blue: buses, post boxes, the ocean, and the sky. Why did love always get reduced to roses and violets? Mikey tore up the card with a sense of relief, and went into the kitchen to bake a chocolate cake for his girlfriend instead.Violets are blue,I said it was me,It was actually you.violets are mauve,my spelling's poor,but I think I'm in loave.Roses are Red,so are your lips,come to my house,and I'll cook you some chips.Roses are dark,Violets are pale,I'd like to date you,when you get out of jail.Roses are scentless,Violets are smelly.I want to go to your house,and watch the telly.Violets are blueSo please seeFrank O'Hara's 'Having a Coke with You'.Roses are redViolets are blueSo play me a love songOn my heart's kazoo.Roses are redViolets are blueI think you're sexyI'm joining the queue.Thank you so much to all the authors who shared their poems.