04-15-2013, 07:40 AM
It's not so much the "sainted lady" opening as it is the "I love you" opening. You read "I love you" and you automatically know it's another love poem. You could open with something more ambiguous but attention-grabbing, for example, but "I love you" is not a very good way to open up a love poem. You want your poem to transcend, not subscribe to, genre conventions; the love poem is as old as bones. Start by telling readers how yours is different (not literally, of course... you don't want to break the fourth wall here) rather than telling them they're reading (a form of) a love poem.