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Which may explain the similarity of their poetries. And that they were presented here in back to back weeks.

Boy, folks can't keep "nuttin" from us (b)eagle-eyed fraysters.

What clued it in was both live in "Greensboro, NC" (odds of that?).

What I don't get is why writers are often nondisclosing about the other writer they are married to; in example, Robert Hass is married to Brenda Hillman, but nobody would ever know that from any of their contributor bios that I've seen.

Not that they hide it, but they're rarely forthright. Sometimes it gives the impression that they're hiding how small and insular the academic world of American poetry is.

Sometimes they don't mention it when giving awards or being an editor of an anthology...

To tell the truth, who poets are married to does not matter to me, and I understand the preference for a writer being known for their work rather than who their spouse is. That both submitted poems for Pinsky to consider is okay with me, and that Pinsky selected one from each is fine as well, as both poems , in order of publication, have merit. Poetry is a very small world in the realm of American literary life, filled with minor provinces and minute fiefdoms of specialized interest, and it shouldn't surprise anyone that poets married to one another sometimes wind up on the same pages, if at different times. It is, bottom line, Robert Pinsky's call as Slate poetry editor as to who is published here week to week, and as much as I've often complained and griped about the quality of his selection, I do give him credit for making non-obvious choices more often than not. For Richardson and Roderick being married, I don't feel cheated or impoverished, as I've read a good poem from each writer. This is not a scandal, just an exercise in an editor's taste, which is what Mr.Pinsky is paid to do for Slate.