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 here 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 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 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