Vox Populi
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Michael Simms: Magnolia
Suppose you held what you love so tightly
you broke it
Suppose you let something slip away
Your eyes looking away at the very moment
The magnolia tree already dropping its petals
with each breeze
It was inevitable, I suppose
the seasons rising and falling
the sky changing
Fourteen years since I’ve heard your voice
I didn’t know you were saying goodbye
Copyright 2024 Michael Simms
Michael Simms is the founding editor of Vox Populi. His collections of poetry include Strange Meadowlark (Ragged Sky, 2023).
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I’ve read this poem so many times and the sadness is a field where I keep walking beneath that changing sky—which is to say I love this elegy, Michael ❤️💔
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Oh thank you, Lisa. The poem is very important to me, so I appreciate your support.
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This is so poignant, Michael, and such a reminder to take none of the blessings in our lives for granted, because they can leave us at any time. Thank you for sharing such a personal experience.
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Thank you, David!
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“Suppose you let something slip away.”
And suppose you wrote a poem that holds us long and long…..
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Thanks, Louise!
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This is so gentle, the last line deepens it considerably.
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Thank you, Deborah. It’s a small thing, but important to me. The last time I talked to my sister.
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14 years missing Fred, for me
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They are still with us, aren’t they?
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Sorrow through images. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, John.
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Lovely, Michael x
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Thank you, Adrian.
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thanks for my daily cry.
and happy birthday!
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Thanks, Abby!
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Oh that is so good, Michael, thank you.
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Thank you so much!
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This one hurts, as it’s meant to. But word is that today’s your birthday. Hope it’s a good one.
Get Outlook for iOShttps://aka.ms/o0ukef ________________________________
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Thanks, Rex!
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Such deep sorrow — in so few lines. Such hurt, dear Michael. But it’s such consolation for me to know — to see rather — that so many of us are reaching out to you. Us all, a beautiful community **you** created, friend!
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Thanks, Laure-Anne. The poem is about remembering my sister who died in April a number of years ago. Two weeks before her suicide, she called me and we had a long talk. We had been estranged for a year after an argument. I didn’t realize that she was saying goodbye to me.
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Such a sorrowful story, dear friend…I’m sad with you.
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A lovely poem, Michael!
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Thank you, Susie!
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Loved this: ” I didn’t know you were saying good-bye”.
Just hits you.
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Thank you, Lori!
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Heartbreakingly lovely.
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Thank you, Martha!
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Heartbreaking ending:
“Fourteen years since I’ve heard your voice
I didn’t know you were saying goodbye”
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Thanks, Rose Mary. Your participation on these pages has meant a lot to me.
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oh Michael, this is devastatingly beautiful.
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Thank you, Laura! It is so simple, I didn’t know whether I should post it.
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Evanescence. Very moving, very beautiful. You should be wearing Buddhist robes, Michael.
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Blue jeans are fine with me, Warren, but I appreciate the sentiment.
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Thanks, George!
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Lovely Michael! Again, for me very Chinese, the basis in nature and then the turn of those last words, gravid and real: “…I didn’t know…”
Real poetry far as I’m concerned.
It is hard to catch a Magnolia in the act of coming and going
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Thanks, Sean. Where I grew up on the Texas coast, magnolias are very common. Here, in Pittsburgh, not so much. When I do come across one in blossom, I always stop to admire it.
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Wrenching, beautiful. What an ocean of feeling in short compass!
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Thanks, Syd!
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Superb poetry that opens just like a flower in spring; even dying flower.
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Thank you, Marina!
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Lovely poem, Michael!
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Thanks, George!
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Always…
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