An homage for the man on that misty golf course in my collage

Marriage

Nicole Callihan

& of the lattermath I can only say

that with the rain the cattails grew so high

that the longing nearly subsided

this morning I am all moonshine on the snowbank

clockwise back to a better self I am

tenderfoot daisywheel though yesterday I was

warpath and daydreams of underfoot animals

o my fishhook in sheepskin I want

to spacewalk in time with you to teaspoon

sugar into your mouth to clean horsehairs

from under your fingernails honeymoon

of the longhouse I’ll meet you on the shadyside

of the limestone for years I grew lukewarm

with a backache but now I am whitefish

and blackberries I am forbearer and undercurrent

buttermilk and motherhood watertight thunderbird

forgive me my wipeout my deadend and foremost

forgive me my butterball my washrag wrung out

the grasslands of the graveyard I nearly misrecognized

what I almost became eggshell watercolor

drained pipe goodbye o my forever bedclothes

yours is the body warmblooded washbowl

that I seahorse into night after night and the dogwood

timepiece ticks the gumball fruitcup earache of our girls

you my wavelength my tailbone lemonlime jellybean

crewcut backstroke beachcomber I do I do

“Marriage can be difficult; it can change us. Sometimes, though, this change, this bringing together of two separate entities, can be beautiful, much like a compound word. We know the moon, yes, and that it shines, yes, but moonshine is something else entirely. And butter we know, and flies, but butterflies are different. I wanted to play with these compounds, but, ultimately, I wanted to affirm the notion of the individual, the one who has the choice to say, ‘I do,’ and does.”
—Nicole Callihan