Marriage for Beginners
How confident the aisle is, straight from door to altar
all the flowers cheering, the church pews
and the old aunts polished and primped.
The bride and groom march up the happily-ever after road.
They've written their fairy tale now let them waltz,
arm in tremulous arm, dressed in their shiny best white
and never been picked before.
They should be wearing fatigues, steel-caps
and camouflage. Of course - they are wearing
camouflage - she's a doll, he's a Ken,
they have chosen each impeccable other from the supermarket shelves.
Oh children, it is never like that.Marriage, that old shoehorn slipping this heel
into that boot, cracked skin, cracked leather
doing the old slap-slap time.This is what you must forget:
the honeymoon and everything that happened.This is what you must learn:
a hundred ways to cook potatoes,
to separate the whites from the coloureds
the way his mother does
to live with god behind a newspaper
the way his mother does.Does this sound too hard?
There are many recipes for potatoes.
You can learn a new one each week for years.
Living with god is trickier, it takes some practice -
and you might ask, where's the reward?Oh baby, it was heaven when you first did it
the wet tug and sucking pull swelling you
like a church with organ music
your Sundays all come at once.Marriage, that old shoehorn slipping
this heel into that boot,
cracked skin, cracked leather
the old slap-slap time.
