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Today\\u2019s poem is Mixed Marriage by Nick Laird.

The Slowdown is your daily poetry ritual. In this episode, Major writes\\u2026 \\u201cSome days, we bicker, nothing major (pun intended). Often, it\\u2019s minor: control of the thermostat, recycling duty, my general proclivity to forget. On very rare occasions, we hit upon a disagreement that requires work \\u2014 where we need to figure out why we react so strongly. I have not been in a romantic relationship that did not require work. I mean come-to-your-maker kind of work. I\\u2019m talking emotional work that has you question every decision you have made up till that moment and every decision you will make thereafter. Faint of heart? Don\\u2019t even go there. Too awed by your own existence? You might be better off alone. Allergic to change? Incapable of adapting? Only the rotation of the sun is a constant; all else is subject to life\\u2019s mutability and human fallibility. The most stable of relationships account for this fact.\\u201d

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