“Why Marriage Works” by Jane Gentry

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Bigger Than They AppearNothing you want from me.
Nothing I need from you.
Satisfied now
with what we have given,
what we have gotten,
we lie sleep-heavy,
notched to the other,
the primordial struggle
forgotten.

-Jane Gentry

Every Sunday we post a different poem from Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems. Clocking in at 316 pages, BTT features 250 poems from 192 contemporary masters of the short free-form poem.

“There are sharp flashes of light, moments when the miraculous world reveals itself to us swiftly, fully. And, because the mind is also a miracle, the lucky words sometimes arrive to capture that revelation and through it witness what it means to be alive. That is the gift of this gorgeous collection.”
-Mary Ann Taylor-Hall

Jane Gentry, the Kentucky Poet Laureate from 2007-2009 and English professor at the University of Kentucky, is the author of two poetry collections published by LSU Press.

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