“Wedding Poem” by Claire Pearson, one of the four poets who performed at our wedding

“Wedding Poem”
by Claire Pearson

friends! family! honored guests! ne’er do wells and those here to settle any outstanding bets (it's me, i probably owe somebody money about all of this)!

welcome and rejoice!

for we are gathered here beneath the twin-trunked wedding tree because the inevitable march of time has been kind enough to deem it so, and there’s no other place i’d rather be than here with all of you

we are here for one reason and one reason alone, to celebrate the ritual union of the fairy queen and the eternal bachelor,

a mythic marriage foretold only in legend, daydream, fever dream, napkin poem, tarot cards, and coffee grounds etc etc until today!

today, we rejoice for the whiskey binge is purely ceremonial and there will be no witches showing up to curse the firstborn,
because we invited the whole town on the internet!!
and there is no sad crying allowed!
only happy tears, like if i came over there, bottled up your tear and froze them, they’d look super pretty under a microscope.

today we are gathered to witness the Grand Duet’s opening melody of the Magnum Opus between
she who first appeared in The Dream
wreathed in a cloud of coconut scented moonlight,
wearing a crown of piano keys and citrine
lucky lucky, how the arrow from your heartstring bow flies True, dear Archer

and he who could have grown an entire peach orchard with the amount of paper used as the backbone of thousand love poems used to prophecize this meeting,
who urged the water within him to rise to meet her

and thank goodness you rose to the occasion,
cause people like this don’t show up every blue moon
and you would have to be the Dumbest Man Alive not to recognize the pillar of light before you.

fact

so we are here to celebrate the realization of The Dream
where the love of your life loves you back and the up-close kind of ache that comes with the longing- dissipates, like a specter in the sunlight
joy is the only thing living in this heart anymore
there’s no more time to walk romance ghosts, may they move on in peace

newlyweds!
may you always have lunchbox love notes to line your pockets and never, ever forget them at work

may red chrysanthemums and white heather bloom in the peach pits of your dimples as an eternal twinkling blush, like you two are the only people on earth in on the juiciest secret
like “yeah, we’ve seen each other naked long enough to have a baby.
and that baby is gonna go on to save the world someday.
so yeah, you’re welcome, universe”

may the coffee be hot, the whiskey cold, the basil fresh, and there be enough rest for all three of you

and may you never forget that laura is so far out of your league that you aren’t even playing the same game. like, laura is playing professional soccer and you play wii tennis.
so like, remember that you’re too good for him and you are a shining gem of a woman.

so on behalf of all of us,
fox,
don’t mess this up

you both have touched upon something holy
carry it with you
always

Copyright 2018 © Claire Pearson

“Silly Love” by Ryan Smalley, one of the four poets who performed at our wedding

“Silly Love”by Ryan Smalley

I'm tired of a soft focus
Blissful white picket fence
Relationship
Love has been overdramatized
Life is too serious so now,

I'm looking for something silly
Where the only seductive glances
Are followed by chuckling dances
competitions to see who can
Fon  due each other with the
Cheesiest pickup lines
I'll say something like
Have you seen my tshirt?
It's made of boyfriend material
And you'll reply
Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?
All over the collective chorus
Of groans from the friends around us

I want to fall out of love with romance
All the soap operas
And telenovelas
Have left me cliffhanging
On to a different idea
Of happily ever after
Something longer than
Just a couple seasons

I want someone who will let me play
the damsel in distress
you can be my knight in shining armor
Save me from the pillow fort guarded by the firebreathing colonel breakfast
Our calico kitten

And when they ask, we'll both say that neither one wears the pants
It's all boxer briefs
And boyshorts
Sweatpants and old t-shirts
Or fuckin nothing at all

Everyone takes love so seriously
Meanwhile we're
Ruining any attempt at romance
By blowing raspberries
Into our French kisses

For halloween
You dress up as Han
And I'll don a bedsheet as your Leia
And I'll hit you with the line
I'm gonna hop down your
Garbage chute flyboy
End our night with
Candy flavored kisses
Snickers as we make love on all
The candy wrappers
Before we collapse
With sugar rush hangovers

They say all is fair in love and war
So when you fart under the sheets
So I'll wake up and make late morning breakfast we'll call it
you playing by the rules

Where the only fights we have are over who cheated at Mario Kart
[that was a bullshit banana move and you know it!]

I want to put the friend back in girlfriend boyfriend
Break all the rules of can't
In significant other
Why can't we be friends with the benefits
Of being deeply in love

Oh, we'll have a wedding
Only because our family expects us to
But our goal will be
Who can get the priest
More drunk at the end of the night
Conga lines
And chicken dances
Laughter and giggles
Echo throughout
Puppy dog eyes and
Half smile groans
Sunny blue skies
And early morning moans
Till death
Do us
Part

Copyright 2018 © Ryan Smalley

“The Wedding Ghost” by Frank O'Brien, one of the four poets who performed at our wedding

“The Wedding Ghost”
by Frank O'Brien

I love to love you
In the moment the universe was born.

I love loving you
At the end
The very end
When the stars melt
Into endless never nothingness,
In the great roaring, swoops of fires in the last days
And every day that dawns in between.

But this moment
Is my very favorite one.
I have watched it so many times
That I have become the ghost of this place.
I have been standing here
Since before it was “here”
Waiting
Waiting to witness
Again
And again
The linchpin through the axle and
The wheel of our time.
I see you
(You are forever)
Raise a palm made of ticking hands and gears and galaxies
Press it, fingers flat,
To the hand of my forever
(Lace into me)
You say
“Yes.
I do.
I do want all of this—
To thread you into me so completely
That suddenly our faces appear together
Everywhere in history
Hidden in the shadows of
Every single black and white photograph
The world has ever flashed
There
Two spirits
Shaped like children
Holding hands and staring down the vastness
Smiling into the great overwhelm in the night sky
Two spirits in a swirling tangled human dance
Feet falling in rhythms of struggle and joy
And sweet melodies of creation—
A fast forward film flicker of memory
The tale rushing past like blood coursing fiercely
Through bodies so alive…”

I loved you with my blood

I loved you with my bones

With my every defiant breath

I love you with my ghost


I will forever come back to this moment
To the day we were married
And haunt it with an eternity of love for you.
It will be so real,
The wedding guests will turn their heads
And swear they felt something
When I pass by.

Copyright © Frank O'Brien