As my husband and I just relocated across the country and have been setting up the new place, we took the opportunity to combine our book collections for the first time. Alphabetically organized on the shelves, our poetry collection is much larger than either of us could have guessed: so much to browse, so much to explore.
The surprise I discovered on the shelf the other night was a slim black volume by Marie Howe. The Good Thief, Marie Howe's first collection, won the Open Competition of the National Poetry series in 1987, and I can't believe it just now found it. I sunk into the couch one sweltering evening, and as moths and fireflies flitted in the open windows, I read the entire collection, immersed to the end.
The first poem in the collection, "Part of Eve's Discussion," sparks anticipation with the line, "It was like the moment when a bird decides not to eat from your hand." And second poem to the finish, we come full arc to "Mary's Argument," where Mary seems to earnestly whisper, "To lead the uncommon life is not so bad." Perhaps, unlike me, you read this in the 80s; if so, might it be time to rediscover it?
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