Where She Always Was: Poems by Frannie Lindsay (May Swenson Poetry Award Series)

81 Pages·2004·0.26 MB·English

by  Frannie Lindsay

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WHERE SHE ALWAYS WAS
Where She Always Was 3/16/04 12:55 PM Page ii
Where She Always Was 3/16/04 12:55 PM Page iii
May Swenson
Poetry Award Series
W H E R E S H E
A LWAY S WA S
poems
by
Frannie Lindsay
UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Logan, Utah
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Utah State University Press
Logan, UT 84322-7800
Copyright 2004 Utah State University Press
All rights reserved
Cover photograph by Meg Birnbaum
Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read
Manufactured in the United States of America
The following poems have appeared in the journals cited: “Magnolia,” “Magdalene
Bathing,” “Should This Become Ordinary,” (forthcoming) in Endicott Review;“Remains”
inField;“Mother’s Goldfish,” “Rain Turning to Snow,” “Aging Nude” in Folio;“Midas’s
Daughter at Fifty” (previous version, entitled “Curing Midas”) in Graham House Review;
“Eve In Exile” (previous version, entitled “Eve’s Last Words”) in Malahat Review;“Pyre,”
“Urn,” “Respects” (forthcoming) in Salamander;“Lighters and Knives” (forthcoming) in
Small Pond Magazine;“Remembering Stars” (previous version) in Windless Orchard.
“Urn” was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Lindsay, Frannie.
Where she always was : poems / by Frannie Lindsay.
p. cm. — (May Swenson Poetry Award series)
ISBN 0-87421-581-1 (alk. paper)ISBN 0-87421-498-X (e-book)
I. Title. II. Series.
PS3612.I533W48 2004
811’.6—dc22
2004004431
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For
Rosemary,
no matter what
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgments ix
Foreword by J. D. McClatchy xi
Part One
Gathering Him In 5
Rain Turning to Snow 6
Feral Kittens 7
Missing 8
For Nadja 9
Gradual Clearing 10
Ladybug 11
Taking off My Cross 12
Kiss, Afterward 13
Dog, Napping 14
Happiness 15
Magnolia 16
Rapunzel Descending 17
Part Two
Respects 21
Mother’s Goldfish 22
I Liked My Mother Best 23
Bad Dog Man 24
Underneath 25
Saturday Mornings, 1954 26
By the Lake 27
Remembering Stars 28
Square Dance, 1956 29
Cello Lessons 30
The Correction 31
Midas Alone 32
Vigil 33
Chagall’s Floating Woman 34
Personal Effects 35
Unafraid 36
Mother 37
Urn 38
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Part Three
Cold Front 41
Midas’s Daughter at Fifty 42
Aging Nude 43
Lines on a Window 44
Cinderella at Work 45
Thaw 46
Antiphon 47
Lighters and Knives 48
The Clothesline Project 49
White Shirt 50
Eve In Exile 51
Nowhere Near Bethlehem 52
Magdalene Bathing 53
Should This Become Ordinary 54
Old Dog 55
Remains 56
Silent Night 57
Blessing at the End of Time 58
Pyre 59
Where She Always Was 60
Benediction 61
About the Author 63
The May Swenson Poetry Award 65
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I wish to express my warmest thanks to J. D. McClatchy, Michael
Spooner, and to Fred Marchant.
I am also deeply grateful to Gary Rafferty for his love, and to Terry
England, Jennifer Johnson, Ann Killough, Deborah Mayhall-
Bradshaw, Liz Moore, Susan Nissbaum-Becker, Susana Roberts,
Aimee Sands, Catherine Sasanov, Steffanie Schwam, Wayne Trapp,
Gordon Weissman, the SHR, the Brookline Poetry Series and the
Joiner Center; and to my sisters Janet and Karen.
Finally, to Porgy, Henry, Rain and Cole and their Creator for the
purest love there is.
In memory of Katherine Hamilton Lindsay, 1907-1996.