In Quarantine - I wanted to join
I wanted to join those already there, en plein air—
a small crowd lining up their easels
on a gentle hill. The gloaming was coming
in increments, like a gathering pool.
But how could I do it? I had no canvas,
no brushes, no skill, no watercolors.
Suddenly a woman appeared at my shoulder.
She said I had to paint, but I had choices:
I could either make a pamphlet
or a series of sheaves with no bindings.
She thought that might be easier for me–
with no bindings. Then I started to imagine
a storm cloud I would make. It would
loft voracious by itself, in the sky.
Christina Pugh’s new book of essays on poetry, Ghosts and the Overplus, was just released by the University of Michigan Press “Poets on Poetry” series. She has also published five books of poems including Stardust Media (University of Massachusetts Press, 2020), winner of the Juniper Prize for Poetry. Her sixth book of poetry, The Right Hand, is forthcoming (Tupelo Press, 2024). Her poems have appeared widely, including in The Atlantic, Poetry, Yale Review, Colorado Review, and other publications. The recipient of fellowships and awards from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Poetry Society of America, the Bogliasco Foundation, the Illinois Arts Council, and others, she is a professor in the Program for Writers at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was recently announced Distinguished Scholar of the Year in Humanities, Arts, Design, and Architecture. www.christinapughpoet.com