Good Bones
BY M AGGIE SM IT H
Life is short, though I keep this from my children.
Life is short, and I’ve shortened mine
in a thousand delicious, ill-advised ways,
a thousand deliciously ill-advised ways
I’ll keep from my children. The world is at least
fifty percent terrible, and that’s a conservative
estimate, though I keep this from my children.
For every bird there is a stone thrown at a bird.
For every loved child, a child broken, bagged,
sunk in a lake. Life is short and the world
is at least half terrible, and for every kind
stranger, there is one who would break you,
though I keep this from my children. I am trying
to sell them the world. Any decent realtor,
walking you through a real shithole, chirps on
about good bones: This place could be beautiful,
right? You could make this place beautiful.
Maggie Smith, "Good Bones" from Waxwing. Copyright © 2016 by
Maggie Smith. Reprinted by permission of Waxwingmagazine
Commented [DD1]: She is trying to protect her children
from knowing some hard truth, possibly because she wants
to let her children be children and not be held back from
dreaming big by real problems
Commented [DD2]: She has done some 'adult' things she
regrets (like drinking, smoking, or other bad habits that can
lead to a shortened life) but I think when she says delicious,
she sees them as possibly guilty pleasures.
Commented [DD3]: There are some repetitive aspects to
this poem
Commented [DD4]: She has a strong belief there is more
bad in this world than good. I did not understand what a
conservative estimate was, but I googled it and came to
learn it means a guess much lower than what she really
thinks, proving she thinks there is much more bad when she
says “the world is at least fifty percent terrible”
Commented [DD5]: For every good thing in this world,
there is some bad that counteracts it, at least.
Commented [DD6]: From this I assume there has been a
handful of people who have hurt her, so she knows not to
trust many because there is a 50/50 chance, they will do
you wrong
Commented [DD7]: She uses this phrase very repetitively
throughout the poem, making it known she wants to
protect her children from the bad crazy world we live in
Commented [DD8]: This is one of my favourite parts of the
poem. As I see this, she is referring to herself as the realtor,
and the “shithole” as she calls it, is the world/ society. Yes,
right now it looks bad, but she wants them to know it has
‘good bones/ a good structure” and she believes someday it
could be better. And it could be better because of them,
they could make this this world beautiful.
 Respiration
BY J AM AAL M AY
A lot of it lives in the trachea, you know.
But not so much that you won’t need more muscle:
the diaphragm, a fist clenching at the bottom.
Inhale. So many of us are breathless,
you know, like me
kneeling to collect the pottery shards
of a house plant my elbow has nudged
into oblivion. What if I sigh,
and the black earth beneath me scatters
like insects running from my breath?
Am I a god then? Am I insane
because I worry about the disassembling of earth
regularly? I walk more softly now
into gardens or up the steps of old houses
with impatiens stuffed in their window boxes.
When it’s you standing there with a letter
or voice or face full of solemn news,
will you hold your breath before you knock?
Commented [DD9]: When you have an anxiety attack it can
often become hard to breathe. It can almost feel like there
is a fist clenching at the bottom of throat.
Commented [DD10]: He is saying inhale, exhale, just
breathe if you have the chance. Because there are people
that don’t have that luxury sometimes. They feel breathless.
Like him. the “us” is referring to people with anxiety
Commented [DD11]: This one small act causes anxiety to
rise, possibly leading to an anxiety attack
Commented [DD12]: The author has anxiety that the
smallest of actions they do could result in bad things
Commented [DD13]: Not sure what this means, maybe
insects are scared of him?
Commented [DD14]: The authors anxiety isn’t a once in a
while type thing, this is constant everyday thing. The anxiety
is regular, as he says
Commented [DD15]: He knows it’s crazy that he worries
about everything and breaking things, because just a single
person cannot ‘disassemble the world’, but that does not
stop the anxiety and worry
Commented [DD16]: They’re now way more cautious
when it comes to just about anything. Even just walking
somewhere they have to worry about their every action
Commented [DD17]: This sounds very deep, but I don’t
quite understand what this means. Does the ‘hold your
breath before you knock?’ refer to anxiety over very
“insignificant” everyday actions?
Brokeheart: Just like that
Patrick Rosal

When the bass drops on Bill Withers’

Better Off Dead, it’s like 7 a.m. Commented [DD18]: Is this song symbol of how he feels?
‘better off dead’ could be a reference to his depression and
and I confess I’m looking suicidal thoughts

over my shoulder once or twice

just to make sure no one in Brooklyn
is peeking into my third-floor window
to see me in pajamas I haven’t washed
for three weeks before I slide
from sink to stove in one long groove
left foot first then back to the window side
Commented [DD19]: Author is very anxious about
someone watching him in the comfort of his own home
Commented [DD20]: Sign of mental health issues. Bad
hygiene is a common sign of depression
Commented [DD21]: Bad posture, body is weak from not
taking proper care of their selves

with my chin up and both fists clenched

like two small sacks of stolen nickels Commented [DD22]: Sign of anger? What is he angry
about?
and I can almost hear the silver
hit the floor by the dozens Commented [DD23]: Him unclenching his fist and ‘letting
the coins hit the floor’ is him giving up
when I let loose and sway a little back
and just like that I’m a lizard grown
two new good legs on a breeze
-bent limb. I’m a grown-ass man
with a three-day wish and two days to live. Commented [DD24]: He has no hope, he wants things he
doesn’t think he can achieve. Maybe another reference to
And just like that everyone knows suicide

my heart’s broke and no one is home. Commented [DD25]: He feels sad, broken, he doesn’t feel
like himself. He feels like in his body no one is home
Just like that, I’m water.
Just like that, I’m the boat.
Just like that, I’m both things in the whole world
rocking. Sometimes sadness is just Commented [DD26]: He is so very sad, and he feels like he
has a bad life. Everything happening is bad
what comes between the dancing. And bam!,
Commented [DD27]: To him, sad is what happens between
my mother’s dead and, bam!, my brother’s the happy moments and he doesn’t understand how people
go from sad to happy so quickly
children are laughing. Just like—ok, it’s true
I can’t pop up from my knees so quick these days Commented [DD28]: He cant go from sad to happy very
quickly anymore/ or he’s getting old, feeling broken
and no one ever said I could sing but
tell me my body ain’t good enough
for this. I’ll count the aches another time,
one in each ankle, the sharp spike in my back,
this mud-muscle throbbing in my going bones,
I’m missing the six biggest screws
to hold this blessed mess together. I’m wind- Commented [DD29]: He is metaphorically falling apart, he
is a mess that cannot be held together anymore. He is
rattled. The wood’s splitting. The hinges are missing the will to want to live (will being screws)

falling off. When the first bridge ends, Commented [DD30]: Piece by piece, day by day he’s slowly
breaking down/ apart. He is comparing himself to a house
just like that, I’m a flung open door.