Noun / ˈmærɪdʒ /
- The act of negotiating the sea in a double-seated kayak
- Families framed on the bedroom wall like a map of history; an entrance into a small civilization
- Mail sorted as yours, mine, and ours
- A real story doubling back, like a mule finding its way down the Grand Canyon with blind confidence as it circles that abyss
- A shared puppy, a kitten, and pots of soup; birthday balloons tied to a chair
- A world of habits, subordinate clauses of lives growing more dependent
- A son’s broken leg; a baby’s ear infection; dirty dishes piled in the sink
- A chronicle between ignorance and knowledge
- The center of gravity ever shifting, and painful diction never completely erased
- The need to say: “I just want to say a few things.”
- A silent telephone; a seed buried near the dog’s ashes; laughter you can still hear
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Phrases
By marriage; as a result of marriage; hand in marriage
Will you love and respect this person until death do you part?
Where’s Aunt Edith’s apple tart recipe?
What time will you be home?
Do I have to do everything around here?
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Word Links
Eros
Nuptial
Union
Conjugal loyalty
Cleave
Wedlock
Matrimonial
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Antonyms
Other woman/Shaman lover
Separation
Waning moon
Thanatos
Divorce
Yizkor service
Gail Hosking is the author of the memoir Snake’s Daughter (University of Iowa Press), the poetry chapbook The Tug (Finishing Line Press), and the poetry book Retrieval (Main Street Rag Publishing). She holds an MFA from Bennington College and taught at Rochester Institute of Technology for fifteen years. Several of her essays have been anthologized.