Vox Populi
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Ellen McGrath Smith: Woman Standing for an Hour in Target Reading Greeting Cards to Herself
The world tells her
there’s a shape
to how she feels
about people she knows,
but it’s not as simple
as it seems. One card
after another she picks up,
reads, returns to its berth.
Assuming a card
could outlive her.
Assuming, like all of us,
she’ll never connect
to another human
the way she’d like to.
Rejecting some
for sounding nothing
like her, others for
sounding too much
like the way she feels—
too wide open, pathetic
even. So Friday evening
passes in the North Hills.
An April rain puffs haloes
around the streetlights,
the tires of traffic sigh
on the wet pavement.
Dark leaves plump
like lips about to kiss.
Copyright 2023 Ellen McGrath Smith
Ellen McGrath Smith’s books include Lie Low, Goaded Lamb (Seven Kitchens Press, 2023). She teaches at the University of Pittsburgh.
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I love this everything in this poem, how “rain puffs haloes / around the streetlights” and how I’ve been and see this very woman❤️
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Thanks, Lisa. Me too. I love everything in this poem.
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Love this. So human and insightful.
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I agree, Arlene!
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Wow! Yes! “Assuming, like all of us,
she’ll never connect
to another human
the way she’d like to”
Love this
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Wonderful poem! April rain puffs haloes…
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Thanks, Clayton!
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God, I love this poem. I see it. I’ve been her. And that ending …
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Thanks, Rosemerry! I love this poem too.
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Thanks, Rosemerry!
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Terrific premise and she did it well!
Opens thoughts to other such things! The best art always inspires
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Indeed!
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Love this poem!
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I do too!
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Thank you!
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Excellent poem. And moving. Very original and beautifully crafted.
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I agree, Rose Mary. I love this poem for its wisdom and its craft.
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I saw that woman in the supermarket yesterday…
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I’ve been that person.
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me too, friend…
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