Hang On Sloopy

I don't write much poetry, so it's fun to see one of my poems in print from time to time. Old school publishing is slow, but when Pearl 37 arrived in my mailbox a few days ago, I was glad to see it even though it was a year-long process, because it includes "Lines from William Blake," my take on the breakdown of a traditional marriage. The journal Pearl started up in 1974 and has included, over the years, a lot of Charles Bukowski, among others. I particularly like the name for its association with Janis Joplin. Editors: Joan Jobe Smith (since 1974), Marilyn Johnson, and Barbara Hauk.

Today, it's Guy de Maupassant's birthday. One of his protagonists gives her take on how a progressive marriage ought to work, just the kind of thing that might scandalize a formal ceremony, even in 2007. Seems like a good deal to me when both parties are treated equally.

Now listen carefully: Marriage, to me, is not a chain but an association. I must be free, entirely unfettered, in all my actions -- my coming and my going; I can tolerate neither control, jealousy, nor criticism as to my conduct. I pledge my word, however, never to compromise the name of the man I marry, nor to render him ridiculous in the eyes of the world. But that man must promise to look upon me as an equal, an ally, and not as an inferior, or as an obedient, submissive wife. My ideas, I know, are not like those of other people, but I shall never change them. (~~Bel Ami, 1885)

Today's Rune: Harvest.

Birthdays: Henri René Albert Guy de Maupassant, Conrad Aiken, John Huston, Neil Armstrong, Wendell Berry, John Saxon (b. Carmine Orrico), Ron Silliman, Rick Derringer (b. Richard Zehringer).

Ciao!