May Day

  The light and heat of the fairgrounds, the airy relief of the gondola in its primary

  colors and the dank cool of the dark mill ride. The warm hand, and the water lapping

  against the side of the boat. Even the memory of them. The sulfur

  of a match struck, the dark it removes and the way the dark comes back.

  Acknowledgments

  Thank you to the editors of the following magazines and journals, where these poems originally appeared, sometimes in earlier forms. Academy of American Poets Poem-a-Day: “Song for the Festival.” Mas Tequila Review: “Translation,” “Gregory,” and “Macrocosm/Microcosm.” Midway Journal: “Know Me,” “Fisherman,” and “Split.” Paper Darts: “Prologue” and “I Know One Thing for Sure.” The Paris Review and Harper’s Magazine: “Ode to a Man in Dress Clothes.” Poetry: “Painted Turtle” and “Want.” Poetry City, USA: “Elsewhere.” Sleet Magazine: “A Poem about Childhood.” Tin House: “Andromeda” and “Despite.” TriQuarterly: “Figure Drawing.” What Light! (MNartists.org): “Why Loneliness.”

  Nothing is accomplished alone, and I feel blessed with an abundance of care and support. To the following people, I express my appreciation: Deborah Keenan, Patricia Kirkpatrick, Katrina Vandenberg, Bill Meissner, Bonnie West, Sasha Ivanovsky–Schow, Paige Riehl, Elena Cisneros, Anna George Meek, Susan Solomon, Mark Anderson, Jim Blaha, Peter Campion, Krisanne Dattir, Todd Pederson, Carlee Alson, Josiah Titus, Charlie Broderick, Courtney Algeo, Anika Eide, Jamie Buehner, Tracy Mumford, Jevin Boardman, Beth Berila, Amy Boland, Siobhan DiZio, Gabrielle Rose, Sandra Evans, Mary Cassidy, Richard Jarrette, Kate Kysar, Betsy Brown, Su Smallen, Colin McDonald, Kelly Hansen Maher, Richard Brown, Lewis Mundt, Dore Kiesselbach, Ali Maki, and Susan Schaffer. Special thanks to Matt Mauch, for helping me to find the right name for this book, and to Eamonn McLain for the painting that became my cover. Thank you Jim Moore, Caitlin Bailey, Allison Wigen, and Nikki Ivanovsky-Schow, for your consistent friendship and encouragement. I have sincere gratitude for the support from my family: David, Sue, and Greg Rueth, and Zach, Bridget, and Nola Reineking. Thank you to the Loft Literary Center for their support through their Emerging Writers’ Grant. Finally, an enormous thank you to Jeff Shotts, dream editor, and the rest of the team at Graywolf Press.

  “Sketch for an Ode or Elegy” is for Kyle, Caitlin, and Allison

  “Figure Drawing” is for Nikki

  The italicized line in “Andromeda” is from Lorca’s poem “Gacela del Amor Imprevisto,” translated by Catherine Brown.

  The italicized lines in “Lament with Red Wall and Olive Tree” are taken from Lorca’s essay “Mistica de la melancolía,” translated by Christopher Maurer.

  The poem, “About Suffering,” is in response to W. H. Auden’s poem “Musée des Beaux Arts,” and was inspired by Paul Hansen’s photograph, which was named World Press Photo of the Year in 2013.

  In the third part of “What I’ve Learned about Cottonwoods,” the information about the hibernation of Banded Wooly Bear caterpillars is taken from Frozen Planet, a documentary series produced by the BBC.

  Some of the text from the poem “Red” comes from Ray Crozier’s essay “The Puzzle of Blushing” and from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology’s guide to cardinals.

  GRETCHEN MARQUETTE has published her poems in several magazines and anthologies, including Harper’s, the Paris Review, Poetry, and Tin House. She is a recipient of a Minnesota Emerging Writers’ Grant through the Loft Literary Center, and she earned her MFA in creative writing from Hamline University, where she served as assistant poetry editor for Water~Stone Review. Marquette lives in the Powderhorn neighborhood in south Minneapolis.

  The text of May Day is set in Bembo.

  Book design by Rachel Holscher.

  Composition by Bookmobile Design & Digital Publisher Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

  Manufactured by Versa Press on acid-free, 30 percent postconsumer wastepaper.