Angie Macri
Poetry
Angie Macri’s recent work appears in New Plains Review, Tar River Poetry, and 2River View, among other journals. An Arkansas Arts Council fellow, she lives in Hot Springs and teaches in Little Rock.
Carat, Cut, Color, Clarity
In a morning of one-hundred suns,
in the long song of a mockingbird,
I changed from spring to fall.
I followed the lullaby: if not
a song, then a ring; if no shine,
then little baby, not a word.
I started in a diamond mine.
I gave the blood no mind
until I saw the oaks cleave
light between their lobes,
a ring no substitute for song,
and he never once sang to me.
Mama, no one can tell me hush.
Papa, I broke the looking glass.
in the long song of a mockingbird,
I changed from spring to fall.
I followed the lullaby: if not
a song, then a ring; if no shine,
then little baby, not a word.
I started in a diamond mine.
I gave the blood no mind
until I saw the oaks cleave
light between their lobes,
a ring no substitute for song,
and he never once sang to me.
Mama, no one can tell me hush.
Papa, I broke the looking glass.
“ ‘Carat, Cut, Color, Clarity’ is a perfect example of less is more. In its first draft, it was a full-page poem. After letting it sit for a year or so, I returned to strip it down to its essence. ”