Marriage

by kerry

comments by mike

He takes too long to explain the simplest
So what if she already knew what he
He says that every time he
When she's hungry, she gets
He leaves his
She forgets to

When she laughs, she makes this
Sometimes he giggles out loud in his
Her walk reminds him of a
She could look at his
He hadn't expected to
She didn't know anyone could be so

He'll grab it, she's had a long
She'd be glad to, his eyes need a
Without asking if she
Before he even reaches for it
He smoothes her
She scratches his

Sure there are times when
It can be tough but 
No one else is quite
No one else ever 



From: mmagee@dept.english.upenn.edu (Michael Magee) Thoughts on K's poem: 1st, I must have been thinking about it when I wrote my poem but it didn't occur to me until the ending; 2nd, I just really like this, liked in when I heard it at B&N & like it now. The debt to Perelman's chronic meanings is tempered by the differences in tone & sensibilty - Perelman's "I" is struggling to say what can't get said about sympathy, digressses a lot. Kerry's speaker's attention is so insistently on the members of this marriage - there's her struggle to get that marriage onto paper but there's also the marriage-struggle itself. I especially like the ending - the move towards waxing philosophic which seems simultaneously twarted and possible. Good stuff. -m.