empathy

A Poem For All Those Women Who Prefer to Marry Their Freedom Rather Than Men

Illustration by Kaethe Butcher

My mother tells me
she hopes I get married soon
but she forgets
she didn’t really want to be married
She didn’t really want a white dress
she didn’t need a framed picture of her wedding day
Or any picture at all
she didn’t want her relatives
or her husband’s family
at the City Hall
Nor at the reception.
she lit a cigarette at the ceremony
to protest against being robbed of youth and
self-awareness
I can’t even imagine her say “Yes” sometimes.
I wanted to be married once
Twice
Maybe three times
I even made a joke that I might as well do it this year
To a complete stranger
in a strange language
that asks for strange currencies
like Denmark
or Portugal
or a grapevine
in Italy.
My mother told me
she hopes I stop in this station
leave my bags on this floor
rest my heart on this dinner table
and eat it too
But how can I imagine myself say “Yes”
to anyone else other than
my restlessness
my knives
and my youth?

—

Ioana Cristina Casapu is the Managing Director of Art Parasites Magazine. She likes Brian Eno, airports and never says no to a good old Gin&Tonic. 

Read all her stories and poetry here.

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