{"id":852,"date":"2021-08-25T22:21:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-26T05:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=852"},"modified":"2025-02-07T12:36:05","modified_gmt":"2025-02-07T20:36:05","slug":"two-poems-by-sandra-mcpherson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/two-poems-by-sandra-mcpherson\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems by Sandra McPherson"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n\n
\"Willow<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in Willow Springs 88<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\n\n

Two Poems by Sandra McPherson<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\nhttps:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/332\/2021\/08\/Sandra-McPherson-Petry-Reading.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\n\n\n

Simple Science<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Our first time, I was not taking field notes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The gift was too great to jot down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then together for years we bothered<\/p>\n\n\n\n

wild terrain to botanize or bug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he watered the columned grape arbor<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in his life\u2019s last hour<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t see the Higher Power<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hieroglyph his fate in the mist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is long past the season of the notebook<\/p>\n\n\n\n

and the prosody of the alpenstock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too late to scribe with my eye<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the scrub-jay fishing from a stone,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to muffle look, look and grip<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my husband\u2019s wrist<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with my left that can\u2019t write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scribbler on some occasions<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a cloud, and, too, a corpulent eraser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beware of muddy, grassy diaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019ll entrap the snoop\u2019s boots<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bent on finding wonders<\/p>\n\n\n\n

in those writingfields:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

owl-shat moon-bones, dark fountains of ants,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a harebell nodding as if reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portraits in My Room<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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

Of a blue-blush suit, you\u2019re<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sullen; yet before a sapphire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

bay, you\u2019re sparkle. Consort<\/p>\n\n\n\n

of painters, wife of John<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sloan\u2019s fame. And this, by<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agnes Richmond. Thick-brushed<\/p>\n\n\n\n

hair makes a premonition<\/p>\n\n\n\n

over your ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A distant boat, going further away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Your chin shades your throat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It drank much, said rumors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stop posing, Dolly. Pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Three times women<\/p>\n\n\n\n

rest their chin in a palm\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why we do I don\u2019t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

know except girlhood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

starts it when the hand<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is small, and the chin<\/p>\n\n\n\n

a stage beyond<\/p>\n\n\n\n

babyish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The eyes change too<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014the hand has something to do<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with the glance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mouth always closed\u2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you can\u2019t talk in that pose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But speak? \u201cHmmmm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":20535,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-852","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\/852"}],"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\/20535"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=852"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38830,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/852\/revisions\/38830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test-inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}