Just now a woman in a yellow
dress and matching hair bands enters the train
holding a plastic microphone,
and, because at midnight she turned fifty-two,
will sing Happy Birthday through the eleven
screeching stops home. Happy birthday to me
she is stomping her suede purple heel
as she sways from one end of the car
to the other. Happy, happy
birthday, even in the elevator as I
make my way toward the subway exit, her metal cane
tapping against cement like a drumstick.
I don’t know if she is drunk on gin or some other
almost upper that slowly ends in disgust,
though that is not my story to tell.
Somehow it is autumn. Somehow, yesterday,
I managed to wash my sheets. Like you,
I do not know if happiness
is anything more extravagant than a goal
to shape our lives toward, and it’s
too early for the rest of our lives.
Carlie Hoffman is the author of This Alaska (Four Way Books, 2021). Her second book is forthcoming with Four Way Books in 2023. A poet and translator, her honors include a 92Y Boston Review / Discovery Prize and an Amy Award from Poets & Writers, and her work has been published in Kenyon Review, Los Angeles Review of Books Quarterly, Boston Review, Jewish Currents, New England Review, and elsewhere. Carlie is the founder and editor-in-chief of Small Orange Journal. For more, visit www.carliehoffman.com.
Credit: from This Alaska (Four Way Books, 2021). Permission granted by the poet.
Carlie Hoffman’s latest book is This Alaska. Visit with her and her work at the Miami Book Fair 2021.
Welcome to SWWIM Every Day’s preview coverage of Miami Book Fair (MBF) 2021! The poets whose work you’ll be reading every weekday from October 25 through November 12 are just a few of the many authors from around the world participating in this year’s MBF, the nation’s largest gathering of writers and readers of all ages. They all look forward to sharing their work, thoughts, and ideas both in person and online. Between November 14 and November 21, new poet conversations and readings will be launched and available for free on miamibookfaironline.com (in addition to other content). For more information, visit the website and follow MBF on Instagram and Twitter at @miamibookfair and use the hashtag #miamibookfair2021.
