‘Goldenrod’ sprouts on the roadside
A journey by car helped inspire the latest collection from ‘Good Bones’ poet Maggie Smith
Maggie Smith writes poetry that speaks to the state of the world we’re experiencing right now. So it’s probably no surprise that she gained her widest audience with a poem that got shared all over social media.
The Ohio-born poet, mother of two and keen observer burst into the lives of many readers in 2016 when the literary journal Waxwing published her poem “Good Bones.”
It’s a short work — just 17 lines in total — about the world being half broken, and you probably know it even if you didn’t know you did. It includes memorable lines such as this one, “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.”
Beautiful and heart-wrenching on its own, the poem was published three days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida, in which 49 people were killed and dozens injured, and its message resonated as it went viral.
While “Good Bones” brought Smith’s writing to many who might never have seen it, her compositions — even her tweets — are packed full of wisdom, joy and, sometimes, our collective sorrow. Her 2020 book of essays and affirmations, “Keep Moving: Notes on Loss, Creativity, and Change,” which she wrote after her divorce, garnered widespread praise as well.
Smith’s latest book of poems, “Goldenrod,” is in stores, and we spoke about the new book, writing and her inspirations. The conversation has been edited and condensed for space.
QTell us about “Goldenrod.” Where did the poem start and why did you pick it for the title?
AIt was really a poem born on a road trip. There’s something about looking out the window of the car that really gets my mind going.
When I saw a field of these flowers, I took a beat and realized I had no idea what that name means. Why do we call things what we do? I went down a rabbit hole about the power of language.
When I’m choosing a title for a book, I’m looking for a title that feels representative or metaphorical. There were a few contenders, but “Goldenrod” won out.
One of the most interesting things about the plant is that its scientific name, Solidago, means “to make whole.” Given the subject matter of all these poems, moving through difficult times, that gesture of wholeness or healing felt right.
Q Alot of the poems are related to being a parent. They’re not directly about my kids, but about being their mother and how their births have changed me as a person.
Their presence and their dialogue are in a lot of my poems. It’s funny — poems are such time capsules. In a lot of my poems, they will be babies forever.
QYou write a lot about parenting, too.
How did you get drawn to poetry?
AI was writing poems before I was reading them, but I didn’t really know what I was doing.
Probably the closest art form I had was music, even more than reading books. I was listening to records and tapes and writing down all the lyrics. Understanding how artists like the Beatles or Joni Mitchell and others described their landscapes or how they were feeling. I did this before I started reading poetry in high school.
Q AI don’t have one favorite. If I have to think about how many books I have on my shelf or who I read over and over it would be James Wright, who is also from Ohio, or Louise Glück, Sharon Olds, Beckian Fritz Goldberg.
This generation of women poets in some ways gave me permission to write.
Picking a favorite is almost like having a favorite child. I could probably say my television show but not for poets.
I’m always reading poems to learn more about the craft. I love reading poets who pay attention to lines. How to break the lines. Then I learn from them and steal.
Q AIt can come from anywhere. It usually comes from a scrap of language. When I say a lot of my poems come from road trips, I’m being honest. I’ve learned to not sit around and wait for divine inspiration.
I try to tune in and pay attention to the world around me. What does that leaf look like? What does the sound of that bird remind me of? I always keep bits in my iPhone notes so in case I get something that wants to become a poem.
QWhat was it about the poem “Good Bones” that resonated so much with people?
ADo you have a favorite poet?
Where do you get your inspiration?
I wrote the poem in 2015, but it came out in 2016. It just happened to go live the same week as the Pulse nightclub shooting.
It was online, not in print, and it’s small and very sharable. But I didn’t think about that when I was writing it. Most of my poems are pretty small and tend to shrink as I revise. I really thought this poem would be received like my other poems — meaning mostly read by other poets.
It’s hopeful but recognizes the dark, and the repetition made it stick with people. There’s a lot of
Parenting and children are subjects Maggie Smith frequently turns to. “Their presence and their dialogue are in a lot of my poems.”
“THE LIFE,” BY CARRIE FOUNTAIN >> “In ‘The Life,’ Carrie Fountain writes that there is no such thing as perfect — only ‘good enough’ — but this book seems evidence to the contrary. To me, this book is perfect. These poems explore motherhood, selfhood, marriage, faith and belief, and the deep loneliness of being human. These are poems for all of us.” anaphora — the same phrases at the beginning of the lines. It stuck in people’s minds easier. That wasn’t my intention, but that was the way it just happened.
QWhat is the most surprising thing that’s come with success?
“OBIT,” BY VICTORIA
CHANG >> “In ‘Obit,’ Victoria Chang created her own form rather than writing conventional elegies: obituary poems for objects and experiences lost and grieved, including ‘the future,’ ‘blame,’ ‘privacy’ and ‘home.’ ‘Obit’ is heartbreaking, thought-provoking, completely absent of platitudes, and stubbornly hopeful.”
AI’ve had a lot of surreal moments over the last few years. Meryl Streep reading one of my poems at Lincoln Center in New York was a surprise. I didn’t even know about it until my friend Saeed Jones tweeted about it.
Then, seeing my poem read
“I HOPE THIS FINDS YOU WELL,” BY KATE BAER >> “Kate Baer’s highly anticipated second collection — following her bestselling debut ‘What Kind of Woman’ — comes out in November. Baer has created poems using portions of notes she received from both fans and trolls, transforming notes of gratitude and messages of cruelty into art.” on an episode of the CBS show “Madam Secretary.”
I’d say also the people who don’t like poetry, but somehow found their way to one of my poems and then my other poems, and maybe they like poetry now. I’m all for there being more poetry people in the world.