Maggie Smith (b. 1977)
Good Bones
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Maggie Smith (b. 1977) is an American poet and essayist whose most recent book is Goldenrod (2021). This poem was featured in an episode of “Madam Secretary” as the Secretary’s staff struggled with what to do about a world in turmoil and chaos. It comes from her collection Good Bones (Tupelo Press, 2017).
Amy Frykholm: amy@journeywithjesus.net
