Commonplaces

Rebecca Ann Spears

Authors

Rebecca Ann Spears Board member, Mutabilis Press Instructor, Nacogdoches ISD

Abstract

These six poems, "Commonplaces," "Still Life, with Questions," "Daddy-o," "Notes on Extremities," "On Her Way," and "Before, Childless and Wanting," focus on issues of concern to care-takers and relatives of those who are ill, infertile, aging, or dying.

"Commonplaces" views the mortality/immortality of our physical bodies, considering the law of conservation of mass.

"Still Life, with Questions" addresses the loss of love and the mortality of an "ex."

"Daddy-o," written for Father's Day, considers my father's loss of eyesight (through glaucoma and cateracts).

"Notes on Extremities" is a response to a loved one's death from multiple sclerosis.

"On Her Way" affirms a dying mother, and how we say good-bye. The daughter "provisions" the mother for her journey.

The setting of "Before, Childless and Wanting" is a long train ride. The observer, who is childless, watches a child "on the loose," wandering the aisle, while the mother reads and then falls asleep. This poem employs longing, discovery, and surprise.

Author Biography

Rebecca Ann Spears, Board member, Mutabilis Press Instructor, Nacogdoches ISD

Rebecca A. Spears, a poet and instructor in Texas, is the author of The Bright Obvious (Finishing Line Press). Her poems and essays are included in The Blanton Museum Poetry Project (Univ. of Texas, Austin), Improbable Worlds (Mutabilis Press), TriQuarterly, Calyx, Crazyhorse, Ars Medica, Minnesota Review, Nimrod, Relief, Borderlands, Texas Review, and other journals and anthologies. She has received awards from the Taos Writers Workshop, Vermont Studio Center, and The Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow. She recently received a Pushcart nomination.