01/22/2016

A star drawn in my mother’s
dark blue planner
reminds me —
we need to be eased from place
to place. We need to be
eased from each other.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This poem is about noticing small drawings my mother made in her planner, which was otherwise full of things she had to do, reminders, lists and so forth.  There was something childlike and joyful about having a glimpse into her inner world; I felt both close to and extremely far away from childhood in that moment.

BIO:

Madeleine Barnes hails from Pittsburgh, PA. Her poems have appeared in places like Pleiades, Jai-Alai Magazine, The Rattling Wall, Yew Journal, North Central Review, Three Rivers Review, and in her chapbook, The Mark My Body Draws in Light.  She was named an Emerging Poet by the Poetry Ireland Introduction Series, and she is the recipient of awards such as a New York State Summer Writers Institute Fellowship and an Academy of American Poets Prize. She received her MFA from NYU. Visit her site at madeleinebarnes.com.
MORE POEMS:

05/12/2010
'Sandstone', Heather Hamilton


03/01/2014
'Hands', Sara Grossman


05/05/2011
'Sonogram', Rachel Richardson