2 poems by Marjorie Maddox

Previously Unpublished Ghost

Not to be mistaken for you,
who materialized years later,

fingered the air with “Write”  
until my words finally heard, 

stacked their spirits into sentences
that named past faces and summoned 

the pretend dead. Come twilight, 
we pencil together the unspoken

that begins before, your syllables
conjuring my tale from that other 

realm where I could not speak
onto the blank of now. But wait. 

Beyond dusk, your silence hears all
unarticulated fears, illuminates 

the once brittle and ancient, 
page after shimmering page.

New Apartment Interrupted by Phone Call

Mismatched brick fireplace
coordinated with rust-tinted

wine glasses precariously balanced
on uneven hearth or too short mantle—mine; 

antique writing desk, 
cherry slant scratched 

with cat claws, undeniable script 
of old favors/new rules;

the overloaded china cabinet 
leftover from the state of leaving 

quickly, mine-only friends 
hauling away evidence 

of the panic-hatched escape;
the same-room kitchenette,

as wide as the bought-together sofa
that pulled out to no one

sleeping alone—mine, too;
the old-school unreliable
 
answering machine
ringing out your voice,

the surprise—mine—
lifting up the past,

setting it down
with a hard all-mine click. 

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Professor of English at Lock Haven University, Marjorie Maddox has published 13 collections of poetry—most recently Begin with a Question and Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For, an ekphrastic collaboration with photographer Karen Elias—the story collection What She Was Saying; four children’s/YA books—including Inside Out: Poems on Writing and Reading Poems with Insider Exercises (Finalist International Book Awards), I’m Feeling Blue, Too! (2021 NCTE Notable Poetry Book)—Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania (co-editor). www.marjoriemaddox.com