marriage

ah, marriage
requested, required, thieved
simple and sunny
marriage
every ceremony a blissful affair
but why can't we be contented
with slowly ripened peaches
crushed pomegranate seeds
bleeding out their juices
feeding to our satisfaction
oh, no
frenzies of deliberation
nurtured written memoranda
frilly little scalloped dresses
followed by sessions of avoidance
analysis, at 200 an hour
all in preparation for
marriage

sweet mortgage, bundles of indebted
joy, yapping like puppies, festive
festooned, but why not relish chocolates
rare, quite dandy, scrumptious on our
bed of roses, melting like our hearts
dissolving into hormonal excesses
not unlike
marriage

for a day, or several, collapsing into
years, or several, embroidered with
addenda, footnotes cavorting with
legalistic jargon, printed finely on
recycled paper, leaving us caught
by our wrangled complications
and if only we'd bought truffles
black and earthy, uprooted
like
marriage

i like to sing at weddings, in my
fitful tenor, nurtured at the finest
institutions, schools of arcane knowledge
peopled by the best, leisurely in great
stone halls, whispering with some plots
of future greatness, dinner two by two
fueled by lines of credit, platinum
i'd say, and i like my merlot purchased
at auctions somewhere in france
bottles from a duke's own vine

ah, marriage
de rigeur, at the clubs and on the
grasses, greened at early dawn
tennis with the champions
hobnobs at the links
gin can be your savior
if you only toe the line
so meet me at the wedding
lobster's on the plate
cake is in the oven
or have i come
too late