If the Voice is There, You Can't Ignore Her

by Sarah Dickenson Snyder

 
She keeps returning
like a jewel you thought you saw
in the grass or just after a step along
a shell-laden beach. She is a pleasant rumbling
in the wild blue sky when there are no clouds.
Here she is, brilliant and alive, now wanting
to thank the Maker, wants to write about
that stay in the garden, albeit brief, how
once it felt like gold or a space of grace.
She begins to dictate: “Start Dear Maker,
thank you for Your green world, how thick and perfect
the air there.” And how did she know
to write thank-you notes
without a mother reminding her?
 

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Sarah Dickenson Snyder lives in Vermont, carves in stone, & rides her bike. Travel opens her eyes. She has four poetry collections, The Human Contract (2017), Notes from a Nomad (nominated for the Massachusetts Book Awards 2018), With a Polaroid Camera (2019), and Now These Three Remain (2023). Poems have been nominated for Best of Net and Pushcart Prizes. Recent work is in Rattle, Lily Poetry Review, and RHINO. sarahdickensonsnyder.com