And I Wonder, Where Else Would You Want to Be?

And I Wonder, Where Else Would You Want to Be?

written by: Katharyn Howd Machan

But here, this table with mandarins
and three fat candles in red glass
as snow refuses to fall again
but carols play, carols fill the air.
For seven decades you’ve known light
to make its way through clear cold windows,
Christmastime the reach of open
arms to give and take with love
in balance as the winter world
calls back the distant sun.
Beneath your hands, a woven cloth
patterned with holly, mottled with gold.
You have your book, your page, your pen.
Today, again, you’ll pour warm tea,
make peace with growing old.

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR:

This title is gratefully borrowed from the last line of “Seville Still Life,” a poem by Barbara Crooker in her collection from Pittsburgh University Press, Some Glad Morning.

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• About
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Katharyn Howd Machan

Katharyn Howd Machan, professor in the Writing Department of Ithaca College, coordinated the Ithaca Community Poets and directed the Feminist Women’s Writing Workshops, Inc. Her poems have appeared in magazines, anthologies, textbooks, and collections (most recently Dark Side of the Spoon from the Moonstone Press in 2022 and A Slow Bottle of Wine, contest winner, from Comstock Writers in 2020), and she edited three thematic works, including Adrienne Rich: A Tribute Anthology with Split Oak Press.

Latest posts by Katharyn Howd Machan (see all)

• And I Wonder, Where Else Would You Want to Be? - December 23, 2023