Author’s statement: Maura Stanton

I want to write a clear, accessible poem that makes people who read it feel something, or see something, or think something that strikes them as true. I want my reader to nod and think, Yes, I know what she means here, I’ve felt that way before, and it’s amazing and wonderful that someone else thinks this way, too. Or else, I’d like my reader to think, Why this is strange and interesting, I’ve never thought of things quite this way before, and it gives me the shivers. I want my poem to have a brilliant reflecting surface like a small pond with a paved path around it on a summer day. But I want it to be deep and fascinating underneath, so that if somebody wishes to stand at the edge looking down, instead of continuing on the path, they can glimpse fish and weeds and other mysterious shapes at the bottom. I want my poem to have a ruffled but harmonious surface, like wind blowing ripples across the pond, breaking up the reflection of the sky. I want people to understand my poem the first time they read it. But I’d like them to read it again because it’s not static like a photograph of a pond, but moving and stirring as the weather changes, with leaves falling across it, storms coming up, and clouds darkening the bright expanse