i. I leave my mother’s house in a boat
“The delicious and surprising poems of Deborah Schwartz offer a generous semi-surrealist commentary on a host of grand topics as well as a carefully curated display of personal ones. Bold, funny, and intensely female, Schwartz navigates oceans, skies, and bodies with curiosity and tenderness. A Girl Could Disappear Like This is of air and longing, where ‘watching is a sacred act.’ You will find yourself reading it cover to cover.”
-Diane Wald, author, The Warhol Pillows
I was afraid they would take what was inside of me. What was inside of me went hiding like a crow or a sea bird into the sky. I lived mostly on top of the water in the boat, though for a few hours at a time, I swam. Came in wet into the curve always wanting to please her and though I knew she was part of me, she also had a separate self. Eventually she gave me her secret. She taught me to steal. I swam to the next cove. That's when I had enough and made the boat Well, I didn't make it. I stole it. In the end, nobody noticed. It's just that the boat was ready and empty.
“In this stunning collection, Deborah Schwartz explores love, loss, family, and the larger world in a truly distinctive voice. Earnest, at times playful, these well-crafted poems navigate between inner and outer worlds, through speech and silence, toward feeling. To read this book is to sense struggle and ultimately, hope.”
-Lisa DeSiro, author, Grief Dreams