{"id":103214,"date":"2016-09-29T16:20:31","date_gmt":"2016-09-29T20:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=103214"},"modified":"2016-09-29T17:29:56","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T21:29:56","slug":"seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/","title":{"rendered":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-103216\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\" alt=\"variety-of-gourmet-cheeses\" width=\"600\" height=\"450\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>Meredith Trede\u2019s poem \u201cOn Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\u201d appeared in our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/back-issues\/132\" target=\"_blank\">Fall 1994 issue<\/a>. Her latest collection is <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/mainstreetragbookstore.com\/?product=tenement-threnody\" target=\"_blank\">Tenement Threnody<\/a><em>.\u00a0<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>His eyes dart through a physical-asset<br \/>inventory; he asks, was I wondering,<br \/>as he gestures to the contents of his cart, <br \/>about his expanded tastes, apparently<br \/>each product reminds him of a country<br \/>he and his new wife (she too busy to work<br \/>for wages) have seen\u2014and so on and so far<br \/>from our first trip to France, then new to travel<br \/>though after only one year already old<br \/>to each other, to Paris and my falling<br \/>in love with and knowing I was loved by<br \/>every man I met, anything but myself,<br \/>aglow with francomania\u2014then <br \/>his tone changes and brings me back to<br \/>the surface: as he was saying just now,<br \/>am I listening, what have I been doing,<br \/>and I hold the high ground, managing not<br \/>to brag about myself on the cheese line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meredith Trede\u2019s poem \u201cOn Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\u201d appeared in our Fall 1994 issue. Her latest collection is Tenement Threnody.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1070,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1188],"tags":[11354,12894,24847,24848,19907,24850,24849,24845,24852,3539,165,24851,24846],"class_list":["post-103214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-archive","tag-cheese","tag-divorce","tag-ex-husband","tag-ex-wife","tag-from-the-archive","tag-gourmet","tag-grocery-store","tag-husband","tag-meredith-trede","tag-poem","tag-poetry","tag-tenement-threnody","tag-wife"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A poem from the archive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store by Meredith Trede\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"September 29, 2016 \u2013 Meredith Trede\u2019s poem \u201cOn Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\u201d appeared in our Fall 1994 issue. Her latest collection is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Meredith Trede\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Meredith Trede\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Meredith Trede\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b7796ab77232c65752037792f8912291\"},\"headline\":\"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\"},\"wordCount\":168,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"cheese\",\"divorce\",\"ex-husband\",\"ex-wife\",\"from the archive\",\"gourmet\",\"grocery store\",\"husband\",\"Meredith Trede\",\"poem\",\"poetry\",\"Tenement Threnody\",\"wife\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From the Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\",\"name\":\"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00\",\"description\":\"A poem from the archive.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b7796ab77232c65752037792f8912291\",\"name\":\"Meredith Trede\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac619c76e3f2491ea3ba4df3eb2b4049fba4fabf3671716735578215284d6bbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac619c76e3f2491ea3ba4df3eb2b4049fba4fabf3671716735578215284d6bbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Meredith Trede\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/meredith-trede\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store","description":"A poem from the archive.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store by Meredith Trede","og_description":"September 29, 2016 \u2013 Meredith Trede\u2019s poem \u201cOn Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store\u201d appeared in our Fall 1994 issue. Her latest collection is","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Meredith Trede","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Meredith Trede","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/"},"author":{"name":"Meredith Trede","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b7796ab77232c65752037792f8912291"},"headline":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store","datePublished":"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/"},"wordCount":168,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg","keywords":["cheese","divorce","ex-husband","ex-wife","from the archive","gourmet","grocery store","husband","Meredith Trede","poem","poetry","Tenement Threnody","wife"],"articleSection":["From the Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/","name":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg","datePublished":"2016-09-29T20:20:31+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-29T21:29:56+00:00","description":"A poem from the archive.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/variety-of-gourmet-cheeses.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/09\/29\/seeing-ex-husband-cheese-line-gourmet-grocery-store\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"On Seeing an Ex-Husband on the Cheese Line of the Gourmet Grocery Store"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/b7796ab77232c65752037792f8912291","name":"Meredith Trede","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac619c76e3f2491ea3ba4df3eb2b4049fba4fabf3671716735578215284d6bbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ac619c76e3f2491ea3ba4df3eb2b4049fba4fabf3671716735578215284d6bbe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Meredith Trede"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/meredith-trede\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1070"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103214"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103214\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":103222,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103214\/revisions\/103222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}