Though they became by vows one flesh
he felt himself a little less

and wondered when it was decided
how their whole would be divided.

Alas, his part became, he thought,
merely an incident in her plot.

He was the rash, she the disease.
She the weather, he the breeze.

Within her swamp, he’s but a hummock.
She’s Texas. He’s Lubbock.

---

Matthew Roth is the author of Bird Silence (Woodley Press). His poems have appeared in 32 Poems, Birmingham Poetry Review, Verse, and many other journals. He teaches Creative Writing and Literature at Messiah University, in Grantham, PA.