Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved poetry. I won’t pretend to be an erudite, ’cause I’d go out for ice-cream over reading as soon as somebody called, but in my solitary moments, as well as in times of grief and despair, I’ve always resorted to poetry.
Last Sunday we went to the movies and saw Jim Jarmusch’ Paterson. I absolutely loved it, I couldn’t recommend it more! And this is how I discovered William Carlos Williams, a modernist Puerto Rican-American poet. And while reading his poems that touched me to the bone, I stumbled upon another great poet- Jillian Weise. I love her colloquial style and wanted to share one of her love poems with you.
Beside You on Main Street
We were stepping out of a reading
in October, the first cold night,
and we were following this couple,
were they at the reading? and because
we were lost, I called out to them,
“Are you going to the after party?”
The woman laughed and said no
and the man kept walking, and she
was holding his hand like I hold yours,
though not exactly, she did not
need him for balance. Then what
got into me? I said, “How long
have you been married?” and she said
“Almost 30 years” and because
we were walking in public, no secret,
tell everyone now it’s official,
I said, “How’s marriage?” The man
kept walking. The woman said,
“It gets better but then it gets different.”
The man kept walking.
xxx, Alina
life in a bubble 