Jerry Chasen's Blog

Mark and I had a commitment ceremony three days prior to this Valentine’s day. I wrote the entire ceremony, and so this Valentine seemed almost redundant! Still, I wanted him to know how happy I was that we’d had the ceremony.

Not long after we’d met, I gave Mark a book that’d had a profound impact on me–Conversations with God. In the inscription, I asked him to “Take a walk with me.” The December before this Valentines day, our home was flooded and we were forced to vacate it for months while it was restored.

Mark told me that on my birthday, he was approached by someone with a very hard luck story. He thought about what I’d do, and gave the guy a $20 bill. That made me feel so understood, and so appreciated.

I knew this would become a series when I started this poem. I’m very lucky to be partnered with Mark, and there’s no way a storebought card would tell him this the way I could myself.

This was one of the first poemographs. It’s also a return to rhyme, and a direct discussion of some larger political truths in the context of the holiday greeting. The photograph is shot into the pond in Kennedy Park in Lenox, MA. At the time, Bush was getting ready to invade Iraq, which needless to say, I didn’t think was a very good idea!