Tuesday Poem: Inspired by the film "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman"

 A Man Carries

a box too wide to fit through
the doorway, unless he twists
his body and tilts the box, which
is heavy and full of keepsakes
his new bride cannot bear to leave behind.

One might see such juggling
with the past as a bad omen,
another might say it is good practice
for marriage and its delicate acrobatics.

But omen or no, he finds a way
through the door that leads them
out of her father’s house.

To his bride he moves like a willow,
he shape-shifts, he closes like a jack-knife,
when he has to, all sharp edges in check.

Tilt a heavy box of love this way and that,
his little dance informs her,
until you can pass through
the portal of all resistance,
the gate each parent locks
and guards too well.