Mary Buchinger
[selections from The Transformation of Material Things]
a baby cries
& I turn to see
what’s the matter
a woman
robed in blue
climbs steep
cellar stairs
emerges beside me
into grey morning air
the wailing baby
cradled in her arms
that’s her spiritual cry
the woman explains
& yes I feel it
scrape inside
°
After I wash the dishes
I turn off the kitchen light
& everything is dark
It is a soft darkness
with sharp edges
I close my eyes to call to mind
the map of this place
the relationships of objects
myself in this space
I feel my way
I know there are others somewhere
in another part of the house
sitting in a bright-lit room
laughing together
I make my way toward
where I imagine them to be
Mary Buchinger, author of e i n f ü h l u n g/in feeling (2018), Aerialist (2015), and Roomful of Sparrows (2008), and President of the New England Poetry Club, teaches at MCPHS University in Boston; her work has appeared in AGNI, DIAGRAM, Gargoyle, Nimrod, Salamander, Slice, and elsewhere.