One Flesh

by Elizabeth Jennings

Lying apart now ,each in a separate bed,
He with a book, keeping the light on late,
She like a girl dreaming of childhood,
All men elsewhere -it is as if they wait
Some new event; the book he hold unread,
Her eyes fixed on the shadows overhead.


Tossed up like flotsam from a former passion,
How cool they lie. They hardly ever touch,
Or if they do it is like a confession
Of having little feelings-or too much.
Chastity faces them, a destination
For which their whole lives were a preparation.

Strangely apart, yet strangely close together,
Silence between them like a thread to hold
And not wind in. And time itself`s a feather
Touching them gently. Do they know they are old,
These two who are my father and my mother
Whose fire from which I came, has now grown cold.

How sad.,but unfortunately in many cases true. Elizabeth Jennings poetry illustrates many aspect of life.She makes you think too.

Hmmmmmm, I remember having to 'look at' this poem in a MA class. Many of the comments by the never-been-weds were all 'Ah, how true! (alas!)'. And all I could think of was... well, look around you at people you know, look with open eyes and not 'the eyes of expectation' (spooky idea: well, we ARE coming up to holloween!) and be honest. Because I have NEVER known a marriage like that. Outside of literature, that is. It may be a wholly middle-class goose-flesh experience. But it could also be post-War rationing, and cold war squeamishness

As much as I like and admire Elizabeth Jennings this poem does get my goat for its button pushing.

Sorry Val.

Ricardo
I do agree that the poem is rather dated. But in the post war years couples stayed together mainly for financial reasons. Today they would be divorced or separated. I can remember many couples living like that too. The men in total control and the women with no choices. Long live female emancipation .The poem reminds me that we have come a long way since those days
I have to be loyal to the sisterhood, Ricardo.

I'm intrigued Ricardo - how many marriages have you experienced?!

He's only been married to me -- and he still is!

It's hard to know what is going on in a marriage even if you live with the people, even if you are one of the partners sometimes. Yet, from the outside, I've seen people like the poem describes on holiday in, for example Blackpool, sitting opposite each other saying nothing at all with apparently nothing to say to each other. But maybe they are perfectly content and happy with each other and as soon as they're back in the bedroom it's out with whips and handcuffs and it's a total love shack thang!

Many of my partners, have pointed to such people and have stated they don't want to end up like that, that they want to avoid boredom like the plague. Unfortunately I crave boredom, that's why I take them to Blackpool, so they always leave me - anyone for ennui?

Good point, Val. And nicely backed up by something I was reading today... whatever it was now (excuse my grey matter greying out), not that you need it backing up, your knowledge is sufficient

which leads into Steph's comment: it is not necessary to have been through that grinder again and again, to have knowledge. Knowledge comes from observation as well as experience, as well the reading of signs, and some signs are very particular, very noticable and acknowledge certain behaviour patterns.

On a technical level the poem is very fine, the rhythms are distinct, everything we look for. And it is this, the mastery of craft, persuades us of the writer's authority. And this is where technique is not enough by itself.
As a culturally historical document it illustrtes particular experiences of a particular time excellently.
What more can we ask!

And as Moxy says: this is where it is for me: us.