GOLDENROD BY MAGGIE SMITH
My first introduction to Maggie Smith’s poetry was during a quickwrite when we were invited to write beside her poem Good Bones. I was immediately drawn in by its powerful images and direct language, and I found myself thinking about the repeated phrase, “though I keep this from my children” long after I had put my writer’s notebook away.
I have read Maggie Smith’s most recent collection, Goldenrod, multiple times and in various ways: straight through in one sitting the day I got it, slowly and deliberately while capturing favorite lines in my notebook, and dipping in and out to revisit poems that I continue to mull over. The poems found in Goldenrod touch on love and loss, parenthood and childhood, the pandemic, and the truths and wonders that exist in the world when we take the time to notice them. It is brimming with possibilities for the high school ELA classroom.
You can read three poems from Goldenrod here:
During Lockdown, I Let the Dog Sleep in My Bed Again
In this episode of The Wintering Sessions, writer Katherine May interviews Maggie Smith.
Here is a Craft Studio post about Keep Moving by Maggie Smith.