Marriage for All

Nov 1, 2011 | 2011 Fall - Out in the Workplace, Articles, Poetry

By Jennifer Rokakis

We see it on the evening news.
That radiant banner behind the president which reads:
“Marriage for All.”
I squeeze your hand.
It’s the happiest day of my life.
I’m crying the tears of joy because it’s finally here:
We can get married after all these long years!

The day I’ve been waiting for.
The sky is the color of faded blue jeans.
Two dazzling white dresses,
Red and white roses in hand.
Our proud fathers each take us down the red carpeted aisle.
They’re playing our song – Pachelbel’s “Canon in D.”
I steal a veiled glance at you – you smile.
You’re more beautiful than the first dusting of shimmering
snow.
The pastor starts talking and our moms weep to see their
daughters all grown up.
I take your hand.
This is it.
“Do you take her to be your lawfully wedded wife?”

“Jennie. Jennie? Wake up!”

We never got to say “I do.”

Jennifer identifies as pansexual, and is currently a junior at Eastern Michigan University where she is studying Women’s and Gender Studies, and Nonprofit Administration.

Related Articles

Imbalances

By Sara Collie I am 10 or 11, navigating some pre-teen cusp of selfhood when the question rises up, engulfs me, troubling that long sunstroked lunch outside the Cornish pub under the looming cliffs where I watch the waitress tuck her hair neatly behind her ears,...

read more

Voyeurism

By K. Olivia Overton Channel 62 at 2:00 a.m. features naked ladies and a man’s voice that guarantees the second DVD free sent in discreet packaging if you call now. Their shiny skin and soft cries made her tummy tickle like when she would rub her scraped palms against...

read more

Closing My Eyes

By Natalie Schriefer I remember not the paperwork mounding on my desk, staff stretched thin with the secretary away, but the background on my computer—the smile of my sapphic fictional crush, a screenshot from a movie, which I saw whenever I closed out a window, a...

read more