culture of monogamy

How did it come about
that loyalty in courtship
should be measured by the amount
of time spent with the other?

Right away it renders
the notion of quality-time
meaningless

Nothing divides
a couple more than
common interests

We are like the wild
bush that gets trimmed to standard
perfection;
we'll never know now what
that bush could have become

Whenever one partner deviates from the shared
sphere of rituals
the other unwittingly points out
the change as a breach

then tremors are felt
horns are locked
friends manage to glue
the hive back together

Like boxers getting pointers
from their coaches
at the end of each round
we hop back into the middle
wounded but with a sense
of survival
taking pointers on how to attack
the other's weakness
and we're back to practicing
the same
uncanny rituals

either you cave-in to the other
give up
playing the game altogether
or live
in passive aggression

If you leave your other
for another
you still don't escape
for you don't stop paying
rent just because
you move
your heart is in another zip code
but you still address the same issues

we build a hive and turn
it into a mine,
courtship behooves
plenty of space!