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Column 774

I Save My Love

Intro by Ted Kooser
01.19.2020

This is the sixth of Marge Sais­er’s poems to appear in my col­umn, and I’ve writ­ten else­where how much I admire her work. This poem is typ­i­cal of her clear, acces­si­ble poet­ry of close obser­va­tion. I am espe­cial­ly tak­en by her cap­ture of the flash of over­head light in the pass­ing car. Mar­velous. This poem is from her recent book, Learn­ing to Swim, from Stephen F. Austin State Uni­ver­si­ty Press. Sais­er lives in Nebras­ka in the warm months and Ari­zona in the cold. 

I Save My Love

I save my love for what is close,
for the dog's eyes, the depths of brown
when I take a wet cloth to them
to wash his face. I save my love
for the smell of coffee at The Mill,
the roasted near-burn of it, especially
the remnant that stays later
in the fibers of my coat. I save my love
for what stays. The white puff
my breath makes when I stand
at night on my doorstep.
That mist doesn't last, evaporates
like your car turning the corner,
you at the wheel, waving.
Your hand a quick tremble in a
brief illumination. Palm and fingers.
Your face toward me. You had
turned on the over-head light so I would
see you for an instant, see you waving,
see you gone.

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We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2019 by Marjorie Saiser, "I Save My Love," from Learning to Swim, (Stephen F. Austin State University Press, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Marjorie Saiser and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.

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Column 773