A Finding Spell
by Sara Eddy
Getting older you forget things.
Something drops out–the other glove,
a dinner party, your father’s
voice. Whisked away, they gather
in tree tops, at the bottom of the ocean.
Ask: where did I have them last?
Retrace your steps, walk toe-to-heel,
put your back to the future.
Chant your name upside-down three times,
empty your mind of itself
and everything important. Let go
of even wanting these things.
Then, like a bumblebee crawling out
from the amethyst folds of the iris
they reveal themselves–the glove
in the garden, the company at table,
your father’s deep voice finding you in a dream.
Sara Eddy's full-length collection, Ordinary Fissures, has just been released by Kelsay Books in May 2024. She is also author of two chapbooks, Tell the Bees (A3 Press, 2019) and Full Mouth (Finishing Line, 2020), and has published widely in literary journals, including Threepenny Review, Baltimore Review, and Sky Island. She is Assistant Director of the writing center at Smith College and lives in Amherst, Massachusetts, in a house built by Emily Dickinson’s cousin.