Editing Kenneth Patchen (section)

=== Marriage ===

Next, Patchen moved to the East Coast, where he lived in [[New York City]] and [[Boston]]. While in Boston, in 1933, he met [[Miriam Patchen|Miriam Oikemus]] at a friend's Christmas party. At the time, Miriam was a freshman at [[Massachusetts State College]] in [[Amherst, Massachusetts|Amherst]]. The two kept in touch, and Patchen started sending her the first of many love poems. They soon fell in love and decided to get married. First Patchen took her to meet his parents in Youngstown. They were married on June 28, 1934, in nearby [[Sharon, Pennsylvania]].<ref>Smith, L. R. (2000). pp 67–81.</ref>

During the 1930s the couple moved frequently between New York City's [[Greenwich Village]] and [[California]], as Patchen struggled to make a living as a writer. Despite his constant struggle, his strong relationship with Miriam supported him and would continue to support him through the hardships that plagued him for most of his adult life. The couple moved to a cottage in [[Old Lyme, Connecticut]], in 1947. In 1951, a few years after befriending the West Coast poet [[Kenneth Rexroth]], the Patchens moved to the West Coast, living first in [[San Francisco]] and then moving to [[Palo Alto, California|Palo Alto]] in 1957.