Poem-a-Day - "Anne" by CMarie Fuhrman

Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
November 16, 2021 

Anne

CMarie Fuhrman

I imagine today just like yesterday—
I will spend the morning writing and then,
when the tide recedes, I’ll trip along drift lines
searching. Yesterday I found an entire sand dollar
and four amber sea agates. The day before—
a red plastic heart stuck in driftwood. But

Anne,     what I really want to find

is a buoy. A fine glass fishing buoy, like the one

you brought to our third-grade show-and-tell
in 1982. A perfect glass bauble, wrapped in brown
hemp. Mint green, cerulean, sparkling, and you,
Anne, gleaming, cradling the globe, in small,
flawless hands. You illumed, Anne, in front of the class,
teaching us what your Grandma taught you
about glassblowing and fishing nets and the tide
that carried that buoy all the way from Japan
to the Oregon Coast, so far from our landlocked
Colorado town, so far from anywhere
our imaginations had yet taken us. Even those of us
in the back row could see. Anne,
tall and gangly, shy and anxious, you traveled
to the sea and brought back a flawless
glass buoy. Even those who teased you hardest
felt the weight of envy. “Be careful,”

you begged us, hinting finally toward fragility, rarity.

Yet these years later I am still searching the wrack

lines, my hands begging back that unbroken
weight, as if by finding my own buoy I might know something
about…     Anne,

please forgive me, I held on too loose—
what do ten-year-old hands know of mortality or the way
lives can be shattered on coasts? What
does this forty-nine-year-old heart understand
about the mechanics of staying afloat, of netting a life
and not letting go?

Copyright © 2021 by CMarie Fuhrman. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on November 16, 2021, by the Academy of American Poets.

Subscribe to the Poem-a-Day Podcast 

  

“I struggled for years to understand and make peace with Anne’s suicide. We grew up together, neighbors. I remember Anne on the school bus every morning, crouched in her seat, alone, staring out the window. Even that young I must have known shame in not reaching out. The third-grade day in the poem has never left me. Anne was vibrant and proud. The glass buoy was my way into the poem and back to Anne, to how tightly she clung to it and her eventual letting go.”
CMarie Fuhrman

CMarie Fuhrman is co-editor of Cascadia: A Field Guide Through Art, Ecology, and Poetry (Mountaineers Press, 2023), co-editor of Native Voices: Indigenous American Poetry Craft and Conversations (Tupelo Press 2019), and the author of Camped Beneath the Dam: Poems (Floodgate 2020). She serves as the 2021-2023 Idaho Writer in Residence, where she lives.
 
Camped Beneath the Dam
(Floodgate, 2020)

“The sun rears” by Jennifer Bartlett
read more
“The Book of Lamenting” by Lory Bedikian
read more

Thanks to Kimberly Blaeser, author of Copper Yearning (Holy Cow! Press, 2019), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month’s weekdays. Listen to a Q&A about Blaeser’s curatorial approach and find out more about our guest editors for the year
This free, daily series is made possible by our readers. If you’re able, please consider donating to support this work. 
Become a monthly sustainer
join
Make a one-time gift
donate
Copyright © 2021 The Academy of American Poets, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address is:
The Academy of American Poets
75 Maiden Lane
St #901
New York, NY 10038

Add us to your address book


View this email in your browser

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Older messages

"what we learn in time of pestilence" by Wendy Vardaman

Monday, November 15, 2021

the blackberries mold again before they're half-eaten Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 15, 2021 what we learn in time of pestilence Wendy Vardaman the blackberries mold again

"The Indians’ Spirits" by Wa Wa Chaw

Saturday, November 13, 2021

Down in the deep my spirit will creep Poem-a-Day is reader-supported. Your gift today will help the Academy of American Poets continue to publish the work of 260 poets each year, and share this series

"Maria and Oceanus" by Erin Coughlin Hollowell

Friday, November 12, 2021

battery of wind | car sliding toward the / ditch | phantom in the left hemisphere Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 12, 2021 Maria and Oceanus Erin Coughlin Hollowell 1. Mare

Join Us on November 18 for Gather in Poems: A Special Reading and Offering of Community

Thursday, November 11, 2021

Join us for Gather in Poems, a virtual reading, on November 18. Black and white text on a blue background: Gather in Poems, a virtual reading. The Academy of American Poets logo. Headshots of the

"In the Meantime" by Max Garland

Thursday, November 11, 2021

The river rose wildly every seventh spring Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 11, 2021 In the Meantime Max Garland The river rose wildly every seventh spring or so, and down the

You Might Also Like

The Best Thing: November 12, 2024

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

The Best Thing is our weekly discussion thread where we share the one thing that we read, listened to, watched, did, or otherwise enjoyed recent… ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

The #1 Hair Color Trend For Winter 2025 Will Be...

Wednesday, November 13, 2024

Coffee isn't the only thing heating up. The Zoe Report Beauty The Zoe Report 11.12.2024 (Beauty) The #1 Hair Color Trend For Winter 2025 Will Be... (Hair) The #1 Hair Color Trend For Winter 2025

Heidi Klum’s No-Pants Look Was Cyborg Chic

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Plus, Megan Fox's naked pregnancy announcement, Gigi Hadid's party bathrobe, your horoscope, and more. Nov. 12, 2024 Bustle Daily Can I Tell My Boyfriend About Exes & My Past Relationships?

The FDA Is Finally Pulling This Cold Medicine From Market

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Avoid These Common Mistakes During Open Enrollment. Scientists have known for years phenylephrine is ineffective. Not displaying correctly? View this newsletter online. TODAY'S FEATURED STORY The

Trump's environmental assault begins

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Here's how activists envision the fight ahead. ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

The Case for Watching 'Bridgerton' With Your Teens

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Today in style, self, culture, and power. The Cut November 12, 2024 PARENTING It's Family 'Sex Scenes' Night When violent porn is everywhere, is there a case for serving up romantic

‘Gladiator II’ More Than Justifies Its Existence

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Plus: Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo's 'Wicked' press tour is full of happy tears. • Nov. 12, 2024 Up Next Your complete guide to industry-shaping entertainment news, exclusive

14 Riverside Drive by Glen Bullock

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

Prose ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

Two Chains

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

What Do You Think You're Looking At? #188 ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏

"𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟/Wahzhazhe/Osage" by Elise Paschen

Tuesday, November 12, 2024

The first language / 𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟 which Eliza, / her grandmother, spoke. Facebook Twitter Instagram Support Poem-a-Day November 12, 2024 𐓷𐓘𐓻𐓘𐓻𐓟/Wahzhazhe/Osage Elise Paschen Wa-zha'-zhe, name of the