On Marriage

Kendra and I loved this poem - its our experience, and yours too, I'll bet!

Spice

Sentimentalists, purists, and some

preachers, advocate marital absolutes -

stability, a clear hierarchy for

decision, a predictable union,

unflawed as a blank page. No wonder

it ends up flat. A truer wedding's

grounded in paradox, answers the pull

of the particular, grapples a score

of rugged issues. Like horned toads

in Eden, incongruities add surprise

to a complacent landscape.

Thank heaven you're romantic and

irascible, I'm opinionated in my

impulsiveness. Thank God we can

lean together in our failing - a rusty

trellis propping a thorned rose.

By Luci Shaw, from her collection "Polishing the Petoskey Stone."