#AND THE POETRY!!!

[simmyfrobby]

I have to ask have you ever considered the Matthew & Jesus dichotomy for Marchand & Bergeron bc you get both the reviled apostle (tax collector/resident ice pest) & the worshipped savior (Bergeron the same in every interpretation) + Matthew (along with other apostles) took on some of Jesus's role after his death to spread the gospel (to be a good leader? What does it mean to inherit Bergeron's legacy) - this being a much more obnoxiously optimistic approach to both Marchand + Bergeron and the post-Bergeron bruins ofc

Okay so first of all this is a much kinder interpretation of Marchand so I actually really like it. It still touches on a lot of the same notes (saint/sinner, love, devotion, loss, legacy) without having to deal with the betrayal. Excellent take. Thank you for sharing it!

"Bergeron the same in every interpretation" made me feel so !!!!!!!!!!! and also it reminded me of this:

(Last Days of Judas Iscariot.. again)

Now here comes my defence of Judas as Marchand

(.. again)

(I'm sorry)

(I love talking about it)

So part of the reason Judas is an easier fit than St. Matthew is because there is just so much more written about him in terms of poetry

(and theatre, which I assume from your ask you've already read my other post about so I won't repeat all that)

Here's a few of my favourite Judas lines:

To: Judas Iscariot, Thérèse Naccarato

"Damned to hell, damned in verse, damned to an eternity without him."

The Sacrifice, Frank Bidart

"Wiping away our sins, Christ stained us with his blood—; 

to offer yourself, yet need betrayal, by Judas, before SHOULDERING 

THE GUILT OF THE WORLD—; 

… Give me the courage not to need Judas."

The Judas Passion, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

"I was called to sin-as-virtue, to virtue-as-sin… of course with a kiss: kiss of repentance, kiss of inexpressible sorrow"

Sadly there are less poems about the other saints/disciples. I did initially look into St. Peter (Jesus washing his feet, Peter cutting off someones ear in the Garden of Gethsemane), but I ultimately found it less compelling than the Judas narrative.

(the three acts of denial killed it. Marchy never shuts up about Bergeron, actually)

It's just.. the DRAMA of it all. BETRAYAL WITH A KISS. Killing the one person you love more than anyone in the world. This idea of Judas, who is universally seen to be the worst person in the whole entire world, just being so Human and Flawed and wonderfully relatable. Judas' REGRET after the fact when its already too late!!

It's just so !!!!!!!!!!!

There's doomed by the narrative and then there's damned by the narrative.

(somewhere on this app there is a post about how as a kid who grew up Different, seeing monstrous and unloved things makes you go: "but what if I loved them. what if they were secretly good. just misunderstood. what if I gave them a hug." and so maybe there's an element of that in there too)

Marchand's narrative arch needs some violence and some villainy and awfulness and questionable decisions I'm afraid (said with love). It is important to me that Judas' crime occurs AFTER he's gotten to know Jesus. It is not a Part Of His Life Before. One of my favourite things about the Bergeron / Marchand dynamic is that Bergeron sees Marchand exactly for who he is - good and bad - and loves him anyway. He doesn't try to change any part of him. That's love baybey!

Also Marchand fighting anyone who even looks at Bergeron funny?? Where is that post that goes: it my fault my love language is acts of service and all I know how to do is kill?

But ok sorry for rambling. Back to your ask: the retirement point you bring up is something I've been playing with as well. I'll post the first draft of this poetry post because the original poem was actually a LOT MORE BLASPHEMOUS, but it also does a better job explaining the parallels between the narratives..

Full poem can be found here.

It's just.. casting Marchand as Judas and Bergeron as Jesus doesn't just change the way I look at their dynamic, it also changes the way interpret the Bible story. OF COURSE THEY LOVED EACH OTHER. Because look: Bergeron and Marchand love each other.

[jordanbolton]

To The Substitute Art Teacher - Jordan Bolton

Pre-order my new book ‘Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car’ here - https://smarturl.it/BlueSky

[two-bees-poetry]

[cityelf]

this poem is about being nonbinary.

[letsbelonelytogetherr]

— Arthur Miller, The Crucible

[sleeplessv0id]

what doesn't kill you makes you weird at intimacy

[octoberloved]

[wedarkacademia]

[arylleth]

to love someone is firstly to confess: i'm prepared to be devastated by you. by A History of My Brief Body by Billy-Ray Belcourt

[lotrmusical]

never let anyone tell you that trawling through mediocre victorian poetry isn't worth it. we just happened upon an absolute BANGER of a worm poem. go read it or else 🪱🪱🪱

[weltenwellen]

Leila Chatti, from “Tea”

[soul-from-another-era]

Unconditional love isn't a free pass to hurt me.

[jordanbolton]

To The People I Pass On The Train At Night - Jordan Bolton

My first book ‘Blue Sky Through the Window of a Moving Car’ is now available to pre-order! Get it here - https://smarturl.it/BlueSky

[becomingvecna]

— David Cronenberg, Consumed

[thoughtcascades]

idk how to flirt but i can make things awkward if you're into that