Nothing to You.

An arresting collection of poems by Suzanne Roberts from South Shore.

“Suzanne Roberts weaves together restlessness, travel experiences and a healthy strand of suspicion, creating a tapestry both intriguing and mysterious.”
—Stephen Reichert, Editor, Smartish Pace

Here is one of her poems:

Crossing Paths by S. Roberts

I don’t know if she worried about being a good mother.
At 19, she had twins, at 21 another boy came.
She was dark haired, beautiful. I am not my grandmother.

The youngest son drowned. The twins were at summer
camp in Fairhope when she boarded the plane.
I don’t know if she worried about being a good mother.

In 1930, she was on her way to Mexico to meet her lover,
but the small plane dove into a mountain range.
I don’t know if the body was retrieved. I’m not my grandmother.

The telegram sent to Daddy and his sister from their father
reads, Keep your courage and good spirits as your brave
mother would have wanted. Daddy thought her a good mother.

I am at the Art Institute in Chicago with my lover,
see Sorolla y Bastida’s Two Sisters, the painting
she’d copied. She was an artist. I am not my grandmother.

I breathe the sand and sea, the sisters and their shadows.
I take my lover’s arm, walk the charted path through wind
and rain, know for certain—her wish has found its way—
I am not my grandmother. I don’t have to be a mother.