Menu
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • About Annie Finch
    • Calendar
    • News Page
    • Blog
    • Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch? (FAQ)
    • How to Read Annie’s Poetry
    • Interviews
    • Support Annie on Matreon
    • Press
      • Testimonials
      • Press Photos
    • Search Site
  • BOOKS
    • Getting-Started Guide for Annie’s Books
    • The Poetry Witch Little Book of Spells
    • Spells: New and Selected Poems
    • Among the Goddesses
    • Calendars
    • Eve
    • The Encyclopedia of Scotland
    • A Poet’s Craft
    • A Poet’s Ear
    • The Body of Poetry
    • The Ghost of Meter
    • BEST BOOKS FOR POETS
    • EDITED BOOKS
  • CHOICE
    • Choice Words: Writers on Abortion
    • Among the Goddesses Epic Libretto
    • Visit Choice Words Action
    • Download Choice Words Toolkit
    • Writing Our Truth Workshop
  • POEMS
    • Note on Reading These Poems Aloud
    • Spiral of Poems
      • Brave Women’s Amulet
      • Moon for Our Daughters
      • Walk With Me
      • On Poetry and Architecture
      • “The Naming”: Memorial Poem for 9-11
      • Keys
      • A Wedding on Earth
      • Spells for the Wheel of the Year
      • Summer Solstice Chant
    • Listen
    • Collaborations
    • Translation
    • Commissions
  • COMMUNITY & TEACHING
    • Poet & Priestess Bookshop
    • Visit Poet & Priestess Community
      • The Story of Poet & Priestess Community
    • About Annie’s Teaching
      • Upcoming Classes
      • Private Consultations
      • Contact Annie About Classes
    • Best Books for Poets
    • Support Annie on Matreon
  • EVENTS
    • Upcoming Calendar
      • How to Read Annie’s Poetry: FAQ
    • Previous Events
    • Talks
    • Readings
    • Ritual Theater
  • CONNECT
    • Bookings
    • Contact Annie
    • Online Visit
    • Market/Cart
    • Support Annie on Matreon
  • SUBSCRIBE

Annie Finch

Margaret Rockwell Finch: In Memory of My Mother

 

My mom is gone. Just three hours after I returned to Portland from the St. Francis MFA residency, the phone call came that she had passed over. When I reached her, St Joseph’s Home had left the window open a crack so her soul could leave, they said, but I still felt some of her spirit there and she was still warm, warm enough to kiss, to say goodbye to. What a gift, to stay with her till the last warmth had gone. Beautiful Maggie, just a few months shy of your 97th birthday. I know I will be with you in another lifetime; you said to me recently, “I am more certain of that than of anything!” Thank you for making me a feminist, a witch, a poet. This poem is from Maggie’s last book, Crone’s Wines, which I edited last year for Able Muse Press.

On Losing and Finding, With Snakes
Lyn Hejinian on Form
Share this content instantly via the share buttons. Thanks for spreading the word!

6 Comments Categories: East: Poetry & Prosody, News

Comments

  1. Annie FinchJacqueline Lapidus says

    January 24, 2018 at 5:34 am

    All sympathy to you, Annie. Your mother’s poem and your account are so moving. It’s good that you got there quickly. Various people and belief systems have different ways of describing how that happens, but in my personal experience, it does take the spirit a while to pass. When my father died, I felt it (at a distance of some 250 miles, and half an hour after his last breath). When my mother went (at 96), I was there– and grateful to be the one who was there. That was years ago now, but I still talk to them in my head and miss them terribly. May your mom’s memory be for a blessing.

    Reply
    • Annie FinchAnnieFinch_Admin says

      March 1, 2018 at 11:09 pm

      Dear Jacqueline,
      Thank you for this moving comment. Wow. 250 miles and a half hour. I had a sense of great lightness at my mohter’s passing that I hadn’t felt at my father’s (his is described in my poem “Elegy for My Father” ). I think she had done so much spiritual work that she was already mostly there by the time she passed 🙂 Thank you again, and peace to you.

      Reply
  2. Annie FinchPatricia says

    January 30, 2018 at 3:47 am

    Oh may you be comforted by poetry and by others’ words and wishes Annie! What a beauty was Maggie! Goodness we women are all in a certain boat on a certain tide, I guess. My mom Jeanne just celebrated her 95th birthday– the same day as Colette Inez passed — Mom said that day she was glad she’s lived this long — 2 of my children, my husband and my brother celebrated with her — and my mom too wrote poems from her teens through her college years at Smith
    up until her middle age, but she never was driven to publish(she may have sent one or two RHYMING poems to the New Yorker which would not have been their style at that time.)
    Certainly I got my love of books from my mother. I don’t know how I will manage without her, though our relationship has been so conflicted up until the last few years
    I’ve made peace with the conflict. I love her. I love your thoughts and Maggie Finch’s poem. How lovely lucky to be able
    to edit your mother’s book. Her gift to you, I think. Like Jacqueline I too talk to my Dad in my head and miss him terribly. SUch beautiful words. And how I will miss my mother
    I cannot even breathe to think of it. All the comfort and the wonderful poems on WOMPO these past few days: A balm to the daughter bereaved.

    Reply
    • Annie FinchAnnieFinch_Admin says

      March 1, 2018 at 11:10 pm

      Dear Patricia,

      Thank you for the kind words and thoughts.

      blessings,
      Annie

      Reply
  3. Annie FinchNicole Olivier says

    February 1, 2018 at 4:20 pm

    Dear Annie,
    I am sorry for the loss of your mother, Maggie. Even though she lived a very long life, and you both knew that your lives together will forever be entwined in future lives and ways, it
    is still sad and it is still the deepest loss of that fundamental relationship. My mother, Valerie, passed away on Sept. 6th and I sat with her, alone, for three hours afterwards, although I was not present at the moment when she passed. I too was grateful for the peace and opportunity— her window open a bit as well. These last five months have been more challenging than I was prepared for them to be. Do you remember her at your reading in Damariscotta, where you gave one of your beautiful, fluid, generous, poetry performances for a ME Women Write talk? She loved it too. Hold on to your gifts and your memories of what you shared with your mother and she will always be with you.
    Warmest hugs to you,
    Nicole

    Reply
    • Annie FinchAnnieFinch_Admin says

      March 1, 2018 at 11:01 pm

      Dear Nicole,
      I do remember your beautiful, elegant mother. I remember her and that day. I remember how close you were with her, and I’m touched that we each lost our mothers in such similar ways and times. Blessings! I’m with you!

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Copyright © 2021 · SITE DESIGN BY LSC STUDIO

Copyright © 2021 · Style Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

Close