Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Twenty Year Marriage

After Jenni's post; one of my favorite old Ai poems, from her book Cruelty:


Twenty-Year Marriage

You keep me waiting in the truck
with its one good wheel stuck in the ditch,
while you piss against the south side of a tree.
Hurry. I've got nothing on under my skirt tonight.
That still excites you, but this old pickup has no windows
and the seat, one fake leather thigh
pressed close to mine is cold.
I'm the same size, shape, make as twenty years ago,
but get inside me, start the engine;
you'll have the strength, the will to move.
I'll push, you push, we'll tear each other in half.
Come on, baby, lay me down on my back.
Pretend you don't owe me a thing
and maybe we'll roll out of here,
leaving the past stacked up behind us;
old newspapers nobody's ever got to read again.


~Ai

2 comments:

Emily Lloyd said...

I remember finding that poem as a teenager and loving it so much I typed it out (I still keep a three-ring of typed out poems). My mom, snooping in my room, thought I'd written it, found me, and told me how great it was. I was 16--like I had that much imagination! (Now, after 4 years of marriage, I can imagine it [grin]).

Dark Dorothy said...

I love this one...
The Mother's Tale is also one of my favorites by Ai.