Perfectly Matched

This poem is based on the true story of meeting my husband Peter on Match.com in 2003.

Using my middle name of Jane, I had a trial period on the site and searched all the profiles between Miami and Tampa (as I lived in Fort Myers, halfway between both major cities). I picked only two men out of the thousands - knowing exactly what I wanted - and started corresponding with both.

I made a date with my husband first - and cancelled the date with the second directly after. We are still happily-ever matched.

I waited outside Bacchus

as our emails had agreed

You knew me just as Jane

my middle name

and hadn’t heard my voice

I took care

a prairie dog

to win this game

or leave the Match

You struck

clothed in sunshine’s colors

as our eyes agreed

with the Florida sky

our photographs aligned

a strangely familiar

first Match

We drank one glass of wine or two

on the tiles as we had planned

spying in the crystal

the reflections of our lives

You, a world-wandering man

with passport black and blue

Merlot reds were the colors you saw

of me, drinking you

after a parting kiss I knew

I had met my Match

(…and I cancelled the other date)