Our Marital Bed
was shipped from Cincinnati’s Crate and Barrel,
assembled by some easy hammering.
a fine full bed, with a plywood board
we carried from the nearby lumberyard
to support the mattress. At some point, the joints
began to loosen and we knocked it back together
with a sock-wrapped hammer.
The frame still pulls apart now and again
and sometimes we wake to slats falling to the floor.
The bed goes one way and so we join forces
to bang the wood back the other way. Wary,
we wait for the night we crash.
11 thoughts on "Our Marital Bed"
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Love how the two of you work together to keep the marital bed together, as it should be. Nice one!
Love it in couplets.
and how the bed requires maintenance and periodic diligence.
“with a sock-wrapped hammer.”
Such a great metaphor for a marriage! Great poem.
This is so good.
It’s more than a metaphor for marriage,
it’s a metaphor for life
Layers of meaning here! “The night we crash”
My favorite of yours this month! Terrific.
Gaby – You are such a wonder! So many layers to the poem, marriage, and life. One of my favorites!
I most loved that final image —waiting, together, for the night you might crash, captures both the anxiety and hope that come with building a life with someone. You show that real intimacy lies not in perfection, but in shared effort and mutual resilience, ready to respond when things (inevitably) fall apart.
Thank you for this honest and beautifully ordinary portrait of love and endurance.
This one’s a gem! I agree with above comments!
Very full and rich poem. Hoping it will be anthologized!
I agree with Jim and the others–this piece is picture perfect and balanced finely.