Wedding Poem

From the title of Ross Gay’s “Wedding Poem,” the reader understands that this is an epithalamion, or poem intended to celebrate nuptials. The speaker invokes the language of a traditional wedding ceremony by beginning the poem in the manner of an officiate: “Friends I am here” (Line 1) echoes the phrase, “We are gathered here,” an opener recognizable as the beginning of many a wedding ceremony, in tone if not verbatim. In addition, a dedication reads, “for Keith and Jen,” presumably the couple for whom the poem is written.

The speaker proceeds to “modestly report” (Line 1) something he’d seen in his hometown, “in an orchard” (Line 2). While the mention of a “town” (Line 3) does not necessarily indicate an urban environment, the impression is that the orchard exists in a populated environment, rather than in a typical rural setting. The orchard is visible, in other words, to passersby. What the speaker sees is “a goldfinch kissing / a sunflower” (Lines 4-5). While the two protagonists of the story are a bird and a plant, the fact that they kiss, “again and again” (Line 6) sets a romantic tone.