‘Til death do us part means people gonna die

Reality denial and neglect

run from rookie mistakes to depths of covert shame.

Smells of close-minded foul funk forgotten in the oldest basements.

Cluttered dark dangerous gas lines

and rusted corrosion devoid of presence

that even the rats won’t touch.

Held back questions.

Discussion forbidden.

Centuries in the making.

Now a price exacted

for a prevailing belief that relationships were sacrosanct

and marriage enduring untouchable even when

daily and nightly patterned shrieks with blows

splintered families into razor-sharp fragments.

Child casualties carrying cuts, abrasions, and terrified silences

over generations over generations.

Because communities lied.

Defining success as staying together

despite the aftermath.

Only beaten because defenseless and weaker.

Now admired because defiant and wiser.

Not accepting shit in font, forum, or format any day of the week.

Ain’t no backorders available either.

Don’t dare suggest merit-based counseling.

Relevant search terms regarding literature review into reasons.

Appropriate online chat groups.

Spouse-focused mediation—and if you even begin to breathe

'Stick with it'

innumerable hands

impossible to restrain will envelop

then drown you in rhetoric steeped untruths,

making of you the first slogan martyr.

New growth’s reliable refusal to repeat old patterns

of a construct mildew-laden with ancient static cling.

Was it laziness, ignorance, or both

that caused you to swallow whole such a comprehensive slow poison?

Unwilling or unable to make things better with sensible timely adjustments,

otherwise

identify a defunct program to eliminate it entirely.

We only take joy in procreating

residences of rapture

with love support beams made from sage knowledge older than life itself.

We slide into sweetness,

a sensuousness smooth as scented spice leaves

grounding us en toda la vida.

Keeping balance and brilliance before us

washing over us

continuity forever cleansing.

Sacrificial remembrance and reflection

about marital bliss of ball and chain

worn with the pride of an underpaid grinning servant

now disintegrated.

Love holds us differently.

Lifts our spirits

and licks our faces until we fall laughing to the earth,

engaged in bonds that are

the very definition

of unbreakable.