Louis Simpson

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

Ed

Ed was in love with a cocktail waitress,
but Ed's family, and his friends,
didn't approve. So he broke it off.

He married a respectable woman
who played the piano. She played well enough
to have been a professional.

Ed's wife left him...
Years later, at a family gathering
Ed got drunk and made a fool of himself.

He said, "I should have married Doreen."
"Well," they said, "why didn't you?"

Comments

[i-hunger.livejournal.com]

I absolutely LOVE this poem! It's amazing that we learn to blame the people that put us in situations, but they never put us there to begin with. WE had the choice to do what we want, but we listen to others instead of ourselves. People will look at the surface of this and say it only pertains to marriage; that's not true. It's all the aspects of our lives that are driven by outside opinions.

Wonderful! Thanks for making people think. Sadly, the people who need this the most ususally aren't part of poetry communities.

[persephone-blue.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm glad this poem fit in so well! Even when those certain people people do read this, I think, they're pretty unlikely to get the message, much less connect it to themselves.