{"id":1888,"date":"2021-09-14T16:32:35","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T23:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=1888"},"modified":"2024-11-25T12:30:14","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T20:30:14","slug":"four-poems-by-maggie-smith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/four-poems-by-maggie-smith\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Poems by Maggie Smith"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"issue83\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 83<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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Four Poems by Maggie Smith<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

POEM BEGINNING WITH A LINE FROM BASHO<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The moon is brighter since the barn burned. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And by burned I mean to the bones-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the rafters on the ground a whale’s ribcage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A barn is mostly kindling. No wonder<\/p>\n\n\n\n

it went up like that-whoosh. <\/em>Or should I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

question my perception? As the therapist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

tells me, look for evidence to support<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the feeling. One minute, beams. The next,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

smoke. Didn’t my husband say, hardly<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to me at all, it was a long time coming?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this still-smoldering field, I am looking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for evidence. How can something stand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

for years, and then-? Just like that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where the roof was, all this night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for my next trick<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where was I,<\/em> she asks,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

before I was in your body?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 -What was I?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You were nowhere, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tell her, nothing.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then where do we go <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

next?<\/em> She presses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeps pressing: Back <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to nothing? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I could believe<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll see her again,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

waking from whatever<\/p>\n\n\n\n

this world is into<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

another world,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

even if the ending<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is so tidy, it spoils<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the whole story.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can’t talk<\/p>\n\n\n\n

about birth without<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

talking about death,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

can’t talk about death<\/p>\n\n\n\n

without talking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

about separation,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

that thick black<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

redaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do I tell her we end<\/p>\n\n\n\n

like a book-the end? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That when we’re gone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

we’re gone, too gone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to miss or even<\/p>\n\n\n\n

remember each other?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She knows<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

what vanish<\/em> means.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pretending<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to do magic,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

she says it as a verb:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my next trick, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll vanish you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I tell her the stars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

are the exception-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

burnt out but still lit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, not ghosts, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

not exactly. Nothing <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

to be scared of. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

how to build a fire<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First ask yourself        Why fire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in the twenty-first century      Is it serving<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

some primal need        drawing you closer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to the earth      to what you think of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

as God            to what you think of<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

as ancestors     as if you know anything<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

about ancestors                      Ask yourself<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

what you need for kindling and flame<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you empty your son’s pockets<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

for stones        for one you can spark<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

against another                      Do you saw<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

a stick against its brother        Do you see<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

God when you tilt a shard of mirror<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

above a nest of your shorn hair<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

three thoughts after crossing nameless creek<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student who told you<\/p>\n\n\n\n

her mother didn’t name her for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more than a week, everyone<\/p>\n\n\n\n

called her Baby.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your daughter, who now sees<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the labeled world: For sale. Open. Stop.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even Hell Is Real. <\/em>It’s love\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hate, reading being automatic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeing a thing and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-immediately, without consent-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

knowing it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, as a child, you tried to imagine<\/p>\n\n\n\n

nothing-tried like hell to empty<\/p>\n\n\n\n

your mind’s shameful hoard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You stayed awake for days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But each time you had it,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you labeled it-nothing<\/em>–<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and that was something,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and you had to start again.<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":23834,"featured_media":1870,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23834"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1888"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37067,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1888\/revisions\/37067"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1870"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}