IN LIEU OF FLOWERS
by Marianna Tabares
For the housewarming I’ll need a few new things maybe socks cast iron underwear this new place has room to stretch to reach across and close blinds on the past I don’t need to see me ten years ago, crying because I did what I was supposed to do to end up married belly full of babies family dinners trips east to see his parents weekends watching movies unmedicated misery wondering what I would do when another woman texted him. Nah I’m good.
As April is national poetry month, I want to share some of my favorite poets who are a part of my local poetic network. The first friend I’ll feature is educator, writer, poet, mentor, role model, summertime New Orleanian, and prolific Wordle champion—Marianna Tabares. Marianna and I met in 2019 when I was starting out as a teacher in South LA. We spent the next few years as classroom neighbors, pedagogical Jedi and Padawan, drinking buddies, and poetic pals. She was a part of the very first “poem of the week” email chain that I started while we were coworkers, and she was and is a big influence on my career as educator and literary artist.
What I love about “In Lieu of Flowers” is its precision. Every line holds. Individual lines—“maybe socks” / “to reach across and close” / “wondering what I would do when”—are poems in themselves. There are hallmarks of modernist poetry (fluids parts of speech, sharp enjambment, free verse) that are balanced by a deliberate present tense: “crying because I did”. While the reader is first situated in a beginning of “housewarming” the cruel “iron” of heartbreak threatens “to end.” But the “end” is in the middle of the poem; after misery comes acceptance, and so the poem’s true ending is in the statement. Even “wondering” must come to an end if we are to keep moving past the “misery” of love and loss; confidence and trust in self is strong enough to take its place.
“In Lieu of Flowers” was published in Rigorous, along with two other delectable poems. You can—and should—read more of Marianna’s writing on Medium or via Amazon/Kindle. Thanks to her for letting me share.
In lieu, Ricky
Wow, this is powerful. Felt it deeply. Thank you ❤️
Yes MT!!!! My queen!