Mary Ann Samyn's Beauty Breaks In (New Issues, 2009)

Ave Maria polishes the background, while I tidy up out front.

Want to enjoy some majesty? Come on by, rain or snow, any evening.

last lines of "An Ambiguity"

In the hollow, the hollow was everything.

We oohed and aahed appropriately.

We learned sandstone versus limestone versus

what might have been.

*

What we liked best was anticipation,

which was fortunate since that was what we got.

*

I like my emptiness with a bit of elbow room.

You like yours with a convenient hatch.

from "Content / Content"

Another dazzling finale

and then I get to choose the braver way.

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow

are the questions.

*

Remembering is such a thrill

the rain does it all day long.

from "Her Sun Was Blue, Her Tree Was Green,

Her Line Was Very Straight"

For heaven's sake, don't worry. It's just Wal-Mart: paintbrushes and paint, some talent and a little hey why not.

from "I Want You to Scream It"

Thank goodness for tomorrow, which held today, squirming a little

but secretly loving it.

the last stanza of "In the Countryside of The"

Will I always be lonely in towns with small-time civic pride?

At least I've done a good job not filling the nothingness

with more of the same.

I consider the berries on the ivy: each one a little entrance

or exit.

My strength I learned a long time ago.

end of "It's Been a Lovely October Thus Far"

My mother wants to know, am I in town?

Infinite Crisis #5.

I'm temper, underneath.

I'm pacing all the way through.

from "Riskier Still"

Little by little is one way to row a boat. Mine is blue and white

and very very sleepy.

Yours I cannot say. But I'm betting on the unimaginable,

and the painfully obvious.

last stanzas of "Smack-dab"

How will you know me dressed as I am

in rhetoric and light?

last stanza of "Suppose We Make That Assumption"

In real life, I hold up one hand to show my city.

On the map, Michigan leaned a little drunk. Tipsy mitten.

from "THIS IS NOT AN ENTRANCE"

Feeling is active, I now realize.

Meaning lags behind, like thunder.

*

Intuition tells me I'm fine.

I've not exceeded the day's maximum

dose of anything.

A song I like repeats in my mind.

from "Tuesday Progress Report"

Two calm thoughts in a row. Personal best.

*

I'm a sensible nonsensical girl, not the other way around.

Mostly, I defer to you.

In a fit of wisdom, you chose me.

What more can I say?

beginning and ending of "When You Reach an Obstacle"

Beauty Breaks In is available with free worldwide shipping at The Book Depository.