By Misti Velvet Rainwater
Date: 21 October 1999

Mythology of the Mundane

    Heloise & Abelard
     found Heaven
       on earth
     in their illicit
       embraces
     Tristan & Isolde
       created a 
     sacred union
      that transcended
          time
     I speak of this
     knowing the rarity
     of such love
    what is it
       but history
  same as Cleopatra & Antony
      or Sid & Nancy
      or Ritchie & Donna

   but what about those
     couples on talk shows
   who live happily ever after
    those couples who work
blue-collar jobs and come home
    to their trailer houses
     saying, "Baby, what's for supper?"

    how about that
    look at me
    I'm a wistful poet
    listening to Buddy Holly songs
     and yearning for
   the intangible