To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage Poem by Robert Lowell

To Speak Of Woe That Is In Marriage

Rating: 2.9


'It is the future generation that presses into being by means of
these exuberant feelings and supersensible soap bubbles of ours.'
- Schopenhauer

'The hot night makes us keep our bedroom windows open.
Our magnolia blossoms. Life begins to happen.
My hopped up husband drops his home disputes,
and hits the streets to cruise for prostitutes,
free-lancing out along the razor's edge.
This screwball might kill his wife, then take the pledge.
Oh the monotonous meanness of his lust...
It's the injustice... he is so unjust-
whiskey-blind, swaggering home at five.
My only thought is how to keep alive.
What makes him tick? Each night now I tie
ten dollars and his car key to my thigh....
Gored by the climacteric of his want,
he stalls above me like an elephant.'

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Michael Walker 19 December 2019

Written from the point of view of a woman whose husband is an inconsiderate drunkard, who also cruises looking for prostitutes. She is afraid of him. The poem reminds us that marriage is not always a happy state. Far from it.

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Robert Lowell

Robert Lowell

Boston / United States
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