tiny sparks

Have been reading this book (incidentally, VERY good), and discovered that the author writes poetry, too. Here is one poem that I stumbled on; it is easily one of my favorite descriptions of marriage and married life.

Habitation

Marriage is not
a house, or even a tent

It is before that, and colder:

the edge of the forest, the edge
of the desert
the unpainted stairs
at the back, where we squat
outdoors, eating popcorn
where painfully and with wonder
at having survived
this far

we are learning to make fire.

Margaret Atwood