27 June

One does not have to feel worthy of much to ask for a pencil or a slice of bread. However, to reprimand anyone with "I need you to love me more and better" requires that one thinks himself worthy of love, which is quite a lot to be worthy of. It allows one to be told "but you are not worth that", which I would imagine to be the most horrible thing in the world.

I once wrote a rather bad poem of which the gist was the last couplet, I dare not ask affection of you/ Only give me leave to love you. That's a rather stupid concept, however. Of course it is not enough to love. I am no longer that classical nor that stupid.

This is a very good poem:

The Ache of Marriage

BY DENISE LEVERTOV

The ache of marriage:

thigh and tongue, beloved,

are heavy with it,

it throbs in the teeth

We look for communion

and are turned away, beloved,

each and each

It is leviathan and we

in its belly

looking for joy, some joy

not to be known outside it

two by two in the ark of

the ache of it.