3.30.2023

both feel the burn of the daggers they throw

The wives of the poets, 
they never complain. 
They know they are married 
to drama and pain. 
 
They know they are married 
to more than their man. 
They know there are others—
young lovers he can 
 
fend off from the marriage 
that keeps him afloat, 
for rail as they may, 
he won't rock that boat. 
 
She won't read the poems 
he's written for her; 
the poems for lovers 
will cause no great stir. 
 
He knows she won't read them, 
because her concern 
is life (and not words) 
but both feel the burn 
 
of the daggers they throw, 
the sharp looks that show 
the rot in the lives 
of poets, and wives. 
 
[Susan De Sola {1962-2021} 'The Wives of the Poets', from The Best American Poetry 2018]

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