Today’s poem is Mixed Marriage by Nick Laird.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes… “Some days, we bicker, nothing major (pun intended). Often, it’s minor: control of the thermostat, recycling duty, my general proclivity to forget. On very rare occasions, we hit upon a disagreement that requires work — where we need to figure out why we react so strongly. I have not been in a romantic relationship that did not require work. I mean come-to-your-maker kind of work. I’m talking emotional work that has you question every decision you have made up till that moment and every decision you will make thereafter. Faint of heart? Don’t even go there. Too awed by your own existence? You might be better off alone. Allergic to change? Incapable of adapting? Only the rotation of the sun is a constant; all else is subject to life’s mutability and human fallibility. The most stable of relationships account for this fact.”

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