I rolled a three so got the snippet from Sergio Ortiz' poem, Day of the Dead: "They married. Julia, carried down the aisle / by two old lovers, found the lost bottle of rum"
I was taken with the idea of Julia not wanting to marry, or perhaps she did want to marry but knew it was hopeless. That her former lovers would present her to her husband as if she were theirs to give. I was also fascinated with the merging of the funeral and the wedding.
At the moment I'm interested in writing in the first person plural, so I thought I'd explore the idea of a funerary wedding from the point of view of the bride bearers. I've given you six of them. I initially wrote this in the voice of the bride, but I kind of feel that the point of this is that her voice is irrelevant. That said I haven't gendered any of the others on purpose.
Who would not do without
She kissed we six for one last time,
we smelled her remembered scent,
her lips brushed kisses on our dry cheeks
and we remembered why
we had put her aside
(or learned to do without).
That done, in the peace of the morning
in the Spring breeze of expectations
the music came.
She held her flowers to her breast
and turned her back.
We six took our places,
head and hips and hoist.
She is not heavy
and yet we find it hard
to carry her.
We six have practiced,
we walk sedate in time,
do not show the burden,
do not trip,
do not trip on her long white train,
we do not trip.
Ahead is the one who
did not put her aside,
who would not do without
and we carry her, calm and strong
to the fire of that love.
Ⓒ Cara L McKee 20/8/17
Tbh I quite like marriage - I think it's very sensible to have a legal contract, and great that the families and friends should celebrate it. It has a problematic past for women, but that's because women weren't respected in patriarchal culture, not because of the institution itself.
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