than I thought I wanted, or to give me what I wanted but in the way you wanted to give." I could not have found better words to describe my former marriage. Leaving that kind of situation is excruciating because ... how can you turn your back on that kind of love? Such a powerful poem. It cuts right to the bone.
Relationships are far more complex than any poem, even once as eloquent and lovely as this one, can capture, but, with as much as is clear on the surface, I hope you found a way to “amalgamate” your differences and keep this apparently good man. Love the cusp reference.
Amazing the layers of honesty, the strata of life. Life, and love particularly, always extends beyond our immediate perceptions. A poem like this reminds us even sorrow is sometimes precious.
Holy Cow!! What a superb and heart-wrenching poem! The kind that sweeps your feet from under you, then you find more magic and pathways each time you re-read it. I so hope (and am praying) that the speaker was able to repair that marriage!! Now I’m going to start the re-reads!
Yes, it is So heart wrenching—I’ve known too many people stuck in just such an arrangement between love and exhaustion. Thankfully, my marriage has a lot more love, but I know that the exhaustion—and the heavy sadness—is real also…amazing poem!
I once had a fiction prof who said, ‘If you’re gonna have metaphorical birds in a story, they must first appear as literal birds.’ For me, this ‘rule’ sometimes applies to poetry, sometimes not. I love how this tight big/little narrative poem obeys that ‘rule.’ The tooth is literal and metaphor. So are the cow sculptures. The sandwich. The dentist. Perhaps even the paddle board.
"trying as you’d always tried to give me more
than I thought I wanted, or to give me what I wanted but in the way you wanted to give." I could not have found better words to describe my former marriage. Leaving that kind of situation is excruciating because ... how can you turn your back on that kind of love? Such a powerful poem. It cuts right to the bone.
The honesty in the voice is a breath of fresh air. Maybe finding meaningful ways of telling terrible truths that set us free is all we've got.
Relationships are far more complex than any poem, even once as eloquent and lovely as this one, can capture, but, with as much as is clear on the surface, I hope you found a way to “amalgamate” your differences and keep this apparently good man. Love the cusp reference.
How grateful I am to read real, committed love, not breakups, not ambivalence. All kinds of love poems are allowed, appreciated, but this one is rare.
Amazing the layers of honesty, the strata of life. Life, and love particularly, always extends beyond our immediate perceptions. A poem like this reminds us even sorrow is sometimes precious.
Holy Cow!! What a superb and heart-wrenching poem! The kind that sweeps your feet from under you, then you find more magic and pathways each time you re-read it. I so hope (and am praying) that the speaker was able to repair that marriage!! Now I’m going to start the re-reads!
Yes, it is So heart wrenching—I’ve known too many people stuck in just such an arrangement between love and exhaustion. Thankfully, my marriage has a lot more love, but I know that the exhaustion—and the heavy sadness—is real also…amazing poem!
What a time for a poem with acetaminophen in it ha
Sweet and compelling... I find myself in the love described, aching at the thought of loss.
'to give me what I wanted but in the way you wanted to give' 🙌🏼
I once had a fiction prof who said, ‘If you’re gonna have metaphorical birds in a story, they must first appear as literal birds.’ For me, this ‘rule’ sometimes applies to poetry, sometimes not. I love how this tight big/little narrative poem obeys that ‘rule.’ The tooth is literal and metaphor. So are the cow sculptures. The sandwich. The dentist. Perhaps even the paddle board.
So good.
Quite a nice poem! Thank you for this one.