Latest Poem
- Calm: The Sculptor Contemplates Mary
-after Virgin of Hope by Matilde Oliviera
In stone cold relief, the mother
sits, closes her eyes
to fear. All she knows is
here: the calm release of
Be still and know,
her small one kicking—
rosary of breath and belly.
Though she is tired
and her chiseled garments wrinkled,
she feels only Him,
majesty of miracle now turning
slightly inside her.
Like this, her humble hands
daily reenact the Magnificat,
embrace the ancient prophecy of pain
and salvation. But first,
in sculpted contemplation,
mother and unborn son
pray to the Creator together,
that same I AM
who also molded the artist’s fingers
now faithfully shaping
this maternal and eternal
moment of hope and calm.
Poetry Moment host for WPSU-FM, assistant editor of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, and Professor Emerita of English at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 17 collections of poetry—including How Can I Look It Up When I Don’t Know How It’s Spelled? Spelling Mnemonics and Grammar Tricks (Kelsay Books), Seeing Things (Wildhouse), and Hover Here(forthcoming, Broadstone Books), as well as the ekphrastic collaborations Small Earthly Space; Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (both with Karen Elias), and In the Museum of My Daughter’s Mind (with daughter Anna Lee Hafer www.hafer.work, and others), a 2023 Dragonfly Book Award in photography/fine arts and American Fiction Winner Award in poetry. Maddox also has published a story collection, 4 children’s books, and the anthologies Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and Keystone Poetry (co-editor with Jerry Wemple, PSU Press). She is the great grandniece of Branch Rickey, the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who helped Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Her middle-grade biography, A Man Named Branch: The True Story of Baseball’s Great Experiment, is forthcoming from Sunbury Press. For more information, see www.marjoriemaddox.com
Other recent poems