By Michelle Vongkaysone
You propose to me, your intent clear.
I accept, but only under one condition.
For your ring, I’ll give of myself.
Our household shall suit our basic needs.
All I ask of you is this:
Stay out of my life.
Our relationship isn’t based on love.
We’ve always been aware of that.
Convenience brought us together.
We both want a secure, prosperous life.
Marriage can offer us both that.
Even if our union is false, it doesn’t matter.
It’s just a means to an end.
Why complicate things further?
Let’s live and let live, I say.
Just not together, of course.
I found this particularly stinging, for the simple reason that it is the complete antithesis of how I could ever live. I would rather sleep under a bridge than be trapped in a marriage of convenience, and yet I know so many who do. The story is well written, I found myself slowly suffocating as I was reading it.
The choice/use of form reads more like prose poetry, which provides emotional depth. Nice work, Michelle!