The Unfaithful Bride

“Yet, you remain like you are,” the pastor admonishes his bride in The Unfaithful Bride. And despite conflicting his-and-her perspectives of what is responsible for their fraught union, it’s evident that both partners can’t help but remain like they are—for better or worse. In relationships we may attempt repairs, many times and to different parts, but what often results from these improvements is the sad fact that “You buy a half-litre of fuel/For a journey of three miles.” When a union is ill-fated, no amount of effort or derision or even begging can make the road smoother.That road is also unlikely to ever reach a beneficial destination. If what’s “Spoken by a Man of God” assails this bride to such a degree that readers question why both partners don’t choose to halt this shared journey in recognition that together they are headed nowhere, intangible elements—in contrast to mechanical—such as attraction and chemistry must be credited for an intimacy that’s both painful and passionate. As the preface asserts: “Both the pastor and his bride are bewitched.”

In order to ensure that readers experience a similar bewitchment, however, and as customary practice for poetry collections, a grounding explanation in the form of the preface should be excised so that readers are permitted the freedom to form their own interpretations and reactions to the writing and what it seeks to convey. This content is not without value, though, as you might choose to incorporate it into your eventual marketing and promotion of the book. Ultimately, such a guiding opening detracts from the natural progression of the poems and readers’ considerations of them.When the pastor asks, “But how long must I continue to repair you?” the question's directness is likely to strike readers as a plea; and in this plea, they are sure to perceive emotional depth. The contrast between bride and bike is recognized, but the interior comparison should also be recognized in what’s imperceptible—the pastor’s disappointment in his choice of bride and possibly his personal guilt for being responsible for this choice—and revealed in what isn’t said or how it’s voiced. As an example:

How long will you continue to disgrace me,

O thou old, rugged KYMCO?

The first line is sure to evoke feelings about the pastor’s circumstances, the language compelling yet clear and concise, but the “O thou old” that follows may be perceived as establishing a wall; where in the first line there was intimacy and a spirit of connection, in the second there is formality and even ego.

~ Dr. Mark Weinstein, UK. ~