Vox Populi
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Molly Fisk: Two Poems
How Close Bless Is to Bliss
The way this early morning teases us
with chill. Winter’s coming, says the wind
in still-green maple leaves before the bulb
hits 91. We are not fooled. Swimming’s
best in noonday sun with rapid toweling
off and maybe coffee, muscles wrung,
shoulders stretched, and spine re-lengthened
after hours of stasis at a desk. Our smiles
are wide; our hair is wet. Something
happens in that twenty-minute splash
no one can measure: solace, relaxation,
effort, habit, drive, and pleasure mix.
Is it cocktail? Is it medicine? We pour
ourselves completely into the elixir.
~~
Involved
Part, partial, apart, apartheid,
apartments invaded, a woman
shot though she too was a piece
of the continent, she was a part
of the main. Party-time, precincts
burning, breaking glass, the aroma
of everything smashed, part protest,
part Civil War reenactment minus
the costumes, righteousness boiled
down to this singular moment, one knee
on a neck, one taking a knee to make
clear what he stands for, the icons
and symbols, the chants in the street
before tear gas chokes everyone’s
voices. Never send to know, just don’t,
figure it out and then do something:
bail funds, face a police line your skin
tone potential defense, graffiti and mace,
the sirens, the live streams, a semi
plowing the crowd, because you know
the answer already: anyone’s death,
the bell tolls for thee.
~~~~
Molly Fisk is a poet and essayist who lives in Nevada County, California. She was an inaugural-year Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow.
Poems copyright 2025 Molly Fisk.
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Thank you for including the balm (“How Close Bless is to Bliss”) with the sting (“Involved”) in these two wonderful poems!
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I thought these two poems complement each other nicely.
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Two powerful poems.
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thank you!
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Both these poems by Molly Fisk are stellar, her rich imagery and word-play make my feet dance sitting still even in the second poem’s deep serious! Great poems, Molly!
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thank you!
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Nice! For the second poem, I particularly love the word play within such a serious poem
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I am a longtime fan of Molly’s work (and of Molly herself) and these two poems are a great introduction to readers who might be unfamiliar with her. She writes so eloquently about swimming, it makes me want to leap into the nearest body of water — because “I want what she’s having” when she takes a dip.
As for the poem titled “Involved,” I can hardly begin to say how much I admire her lived experience of the John Donne poem, a piece that I committed to memory many decades ago and continue to use as a touchstone. What she has done here, though, is bring Meditation 17 into close focus, so that the words written 400 years ago are a call to action for every conscious being today, because each of us IS just a clod that will be washed away by the sea some day.
Thank you, Vox Populi, for putting these poems before us.
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I love how elegantly you describe Molly’s mastery. Thank you!
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I was very surprised to find Donne in the poem! I was so mad I think it just left room for surprises from my subconscious or something. And I love that meditation too.
I don’t recognize your code name here, but I’ll swim with you whenever you’d like. Lacking in skill but making up for it in enthusiasm! Leaping in R moi. 😉
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Truth told, Molly, I have no idea where my code name came from … but you and I are personally acquainted, and have a mutual friend who lives in Auburn.
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For reasons I don’t understand, this website assigns random tags to some, but not all subscribers.
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Molly is one of my favorite poets. Her inventiveness looks effortless.
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Bravo to you, Molly — bravo!
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thank you so much
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Love the passion in these.
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Isn’t Molly great?
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Thanks, you two. xo
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