I'm Major Jackson, and this is the slowdown.

Around the holiday season, I received a delightful email from a former student.

Gina wrote, after nearly a decade to inquire about a poem, she partially remembered that

we covered in class and asked for its title.

But she also used the occasion to announce that she met her husband in my poetry workshop.

They've been married two years now.

Now this amped up my holiday bliss.

I've long maintained that poetry classes are a kind of dating service, where as an

added bonus to improving your craft, one is likely to encounter a potential life partner

and friend, someone intelligent, humane, and sensitive, who would likely, for example,

write a poem for you on Valentine's Day rather than purchase a generic card.

Someone who will quote lines of poetry at dinner parties and impress your family and friends.

Who wouldn't want that brilliance in their daily life?

Of course, since I've started teaching, technology has brought us new ways to help us find

that potential beloved.

While the algorithms of dating apps might help to identify a potential mate or partner,

after finding that special someone, we were left to our own devices when faced with

the task of building a lasting union.

No marriage comes with a convenient app, which would be boring anyway.

I personally had to fail, then fail better in order to become the partner I am today.

Hopefully, with each relationship, we get closer to understanding ourselves.

We're a particular brand of neuroses and desires.

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