You’ll remember a few days back when my daughters were discussing the possibilities for marriage in California.
Well, part of their awareness comes from the fact that we have two dear female friends tying the knot there this morning.
Our friends aren’t alone in scheduling pre-election day nuptials — in case California voters decide to make null and void the option of gay marriage. Which means that even on this day of love and tenderness, ritual and celebration, there has to be an awareness of and commitment to the political context.
They are willing — and even proud — to work within that context.
And so am I. This is a civil rights issue that we oughta tend to so our children learn about it as history rather than having to grapple with it painfully, personally and politically themselves.
Today, though, I simply lift my glass (well, okay, my coffee cup) westward and wish continued happiness and abundant love to N & A on their wedding day.
(The following is an original poem I wrote for another happy California wedding about 7 years ago…)
Invitation
Here we are:
gathered, good as a flock,
breathing so that it sounds
like a chant
putting together promises
strange and miraculous
as quills braided into
a bird’s back.
And still, we do not know —
any of us — what is to come.
Whether life will switch back
and forth tightly and parched
toward some steep peak
or tumble forward like water,
like honey or fury
gaining speed.
We gather in bodies
present and singular as trees.
Will they grow strong, tired,
lush, tender, unrecognizably old?
We do not know.
We do not know
which moments we’ll rejoice, regret,
endure or battle —
which seasons will offer
nearly impossible plenty.
All that is certain is this:
longing is like a birdcall,
prettiest and most complete
when it is answered.
This is a wild sky
and our hearts reach wide,
hinges loose
and locks undone.
There is nothing out here
we need protection from.
— LGS, 2001