Please enjoy the poem, and feel free to leave a comment.

“My Mother Never Died Before”

It’s been three weeks
since my mother died and I am starting
to forget, not her, to forget
each crazy mini-moment since,
how the EMT got on the phone with me—
it’s what we all want,
our own bed, our own pajamas—
how the next day
Kevin from the funeral home
pronounced pah-JAY-mas
the way they do in the Midwest,
she’ll be dressed
in a new set of pah-JAY-mas—
he is from Ohio,
although a different part
than my mother.
Just being from Ohio
felt like a miracle to us
as we stood in the parlor of Grommer’s Sons,
which incidentally did
Presidents Taft, Roosevelt, Roosevelt, JFK—
then I stopped listening
because we walked into a room full of coffins—
thoughtfully laid out like new cars,
angled to imagine an exciting journey in comfort and safety—
some open to white quilted interiors,
some closed to accentuate a glossy finish.
I kept saying, Uh! Ugh! Uck!! as we passed through
which was probably rude.
But Kevin never blinked—
he is a professional—
and when my brother and I
squabbled, you could tell
Kevin had a sister somewhere—
maybe in Ohio—
he would squabble with, too.
Walking towards the urn display
my father spied a tasteful wooden box
holding tissues—
She’d love that one! he said.
Even Kevin laughed.
It made looking at the urns easy, I was surprised
how simple, I’d imagined a Grecian vase
with curvatures and animals in blue
cavorting, not these plain wooden containers
bigger than a toaster
smaller than a breadbox.
We picked one and wandered out
making small talk about the renovations.
I want to remember
the scraps of things,
what people say, offerings,
a patchwork quilt to comfort us—
moments of incredulity, this is
happening,
my mother has died, the event
I have been dreading and preparing for,
imagining the possibility,
possibly since I was born.
Here is how it felt to get the news:
like the boat I had been sailing
thudded into a dock.
Like I stepped onto the pier and held
the stillness of land
after a long time afloat—
my sea-legs stopped rocking.
Maybe because the cord
that had been gently, persistently
tugging me along,
pulling me over the ocean,
the cord
that yanked me into the world
has been cut.

The post “My Mother Never Died Before” by Marcia B. Loughran, appeared first on The Poetry Box.

The Poetry Box LIVE – September Edition

September 11, 2021@ 4:00 PM (Pacific) / 7:00 PM (Eastern)

Enjoy a Video from the Show:

September Featured Poets:

• Elizabeth S.E. McBride (Michigan) – author of MOST BEAUTIFUL
• Susan Coultrap-McQuin (Minnesota) – author of WHAT WE BRING HOME
• Marcia B. Loughran (New York) – author of SONGS FROM THE BACK-IN-THE-BACK

ABOUT THE POETS 

Elizabeth S.E. McBride’s poetry is often an experience of walking in this world as a careful and curious observer—the natural result of her reverence for the wonders of creation and those with whom it is shared. Her poetry can be seen in the following literary journals and publications: Dunes Review, Louisiana Literature, Third Wednesday, Red River Review, Seeding the Snow, Scintilla, Poetry Breakfast, and Peninsula Poets.           

Order Beth’s book HERE

Susan Coultrap-McQuin loves the challenge of writing poems that invite readers to see the world in new ways —from the smallest leaf to the largest cities. Her poems have appeared in journals such as Talking Stick, The Moccasin, Songs of Eretz Poetry Review, and in recent pandemic anthologies, including Capsule Stories Isolation Edition, The ACCC Pandemic Arts Journal, and This Was 2020. She has also exhibited poems in libraries, art galleries, and parks in Minnesota where she now lives. What We Bring Home is her first chapbook.

Susan grew up in a Chicago suburb, has lived in the Philippines, England, and Germany, and has traveled throughout the US as well as to almost fifty countries. As a professor and administrator at universities in Minnesota and New York, Susan published two books on women writers, co-edited an anthology on feminist ethics, and wrote articles on women’s studies and higher education. She has served on a variety of regional and national boards related to literacy and higher education. Currently she volunteers with a local arts organization and coordinates their annual poetry contest. Susan is married with two grown children and three grandchildren, who inspire her to see the world in ever-new ways.

Order Susan’s new book HERE

Marcia B. Loughran received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2013. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Verdad, Spoon River Poetry Review and elsewhere. Marcia’s two prize-winning chapbooks, Still Life with Weather and “My Mother Never Died Before” and Other Poems are available either at her website, through The Poetry Box or on a huge conglomerate website whose name shall remain nameless. Marcia reads her work in bars, bookstores and black-box theaters in New York City and the Catskills. She is a nurse practitioner and proud resident of Queens, NY.

Order Marcia’s book HERE

The post The Poetry Box LIVE (Sept 11, 2021) appeared first on The Poetry Box.

The Poetry Box LIVE – January Edition

Jan 9, 2021@ 4:00 PM (Pacific) / 7:00 PM (Eastern)

Enjoy the video from January’s show:

January Featured Poets:
• Marcia B. Loughran (New York), author of MY MOTHER NEVER DIED BEFORE—2nd Place Winner of The Poetry Box Chapbook Prize, 2020
• Cathy Cain (Oregon), author of A SHAPE OF SKY and BEE DANCE
• Pasquale Trozzolo (Kansas) author of BEFORE THE DISTANCE

ABOUT THE POETS 

Marcia B. Loughran won Mrs. Mott’s prestigious haiku prize in fifth grade at the National Cathedral School in Washington, D.C., and resumed her writing career thirty years later. She received an MFA in Creative Writing from the Bennington Writing Seminars in 2013.

Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Verdad, Spoon River Poetry Review and elsewhere. Marcia’s first chapbook, Still Life with Weather, won the 2016 WaterSedge Poetry Chapbook Prize. She reads her work in various bars, bookstores and black-box theaters in New York City and the Catskills and is a regular at the Irish American Writers and Artists’ Salons. Marcia is a nurse practitioner and lives in Queens, NY.

Order Marcia’s book HERE

Poet and visual artist Cathy Cain is the author of Bee Dance (The Poetry Box, 2019) and Empty Space Places You (Finishing Line Press, 2018). Her honors include the Kay Snow Paulann Petersen Award for Poetry; the Edwin Markham Prize for Poetry; and First Place, Second Place, and Honorable Mentions from the Oregon Poetry Association. Her poetry has appeared in Reed Magazine, The Poeming Pigeon, Verseweavers, and VoiceCatcher.

Cain is a two-year Poet’s Studio alumna and a 2014-2015 Atheneum Fellow, both at the Attic Institute of Arts and Letters. Additionally, she has studied with Portland’s Mountain Writers Series and with visiting poets through Literary Arts.

She holds degrees in literature and visual art from Lewis & Clark College, MAT; Oregon State University, BFA; and University of Washington, BA, Phi Beta Kappa. Cain taught in the public schools for over thirty years. She is the lucky wife of a sweet man, and the mother of two fine sons. She lives with her husband near Portland, Oregon.

Order Cathy’s book HERE

Pasquale Trozzolo is an entrepreneur and founder of Trozzolo Communications Group, one of the leading advertising and public relations firms in the Midwest. In addition to building his business he also spent time as a race car driver and grad school professor. Now with too much time on his hands, he continues to complicate his life by living out as many retirement clichés as possible. He’s up to the p’s. Before the pandemic Trozzolo only shared his poems with a handful of close friends. Since sheltering-at-home he has begun to share what he calls Virus Poems.

Order Pasquale’s book HERE

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