Ambigamy

Great poem, Jeremy! I do believe that marriage is a dead institution. (Please no one reem me out for this; it's just an opinion.)

Marriage is (or should be; I know it's not touted as this modernly, but your poem clearly shows how shallow and lousy modern "culture" is, doesn't it?) a place to learn, to strive, to fail and start over again, to become the best people we can be -- and in a good marriage, the husband and wife are there to help each other with this.

Modern "culture" (gag!!!!!!!!!!!!) implies that it's all about sex. Well, tell ya what, you can have sex with anybody, anytime. a marriage, on the other hand, is WORK -- hard, nonstop labor that's more satisfying and fulfilling than anything else you'll ever do.

I knnow this because I have a good marriage. What does a good marriage entail? Confusion; disillusion; heartbreak; addiction; compulsion; miscarriage; sickness; unemployment; disloyalty; a total re-evaluation of self for both partners; becoming better and better a little at a time for both yourself and your partner; learning new ways of being and coping in order to go on; learning to trust and rely on one another in every weather, and realizing that you can.

Modern "culture" tells you that you can throw it away (anything -- razors, radios, cars, relationships) instead of fixing it when it no longer works, or when you're "bored" with it. No wonder our relationships run out of oil all the time!

In the face of modern American "culture" in general (which is geared toward creating the ultimate consumer of "goods" by creating an atmosphere of constant discontent and unrealistic expectation that can never be fulfilled -- because if it was fulfilled, we wouldn't all line up and say "MOOOOOO!" quite so satisfyingly,)the unfulfilled romantic needs to clearly hear, understand, and cleave to one quote:

"It's time to grow up, Peter Pan!"

Finally, somebody who "gets" it. I've struggled to explain this to others for years. Thank you, thank you, thank you

Thanks. Glad to be gotten too.

J