Betsy Fogelman Tighe
Winter 2023 | Poetry
Anaphora of the Mystic
I am the caped crusader, and the wind under the hem.
I am the crepe myrtle, spread over the arbor,
the nail that holds its corner together.
I am the TV, dark in the morning, and the undusted china.
I am the acorn, its green stem, the aphid on the cap.
I am traveling the Via Positiva wearing the crown of my mother,
strolling a quiet pace, watching my girl’s strong legs bounce
her small sweaty hand in mine, both chanting the verses remembered.
I am bending to kiss every petal of this black-eyed Susan;
I am saving its seeds to share with my neighbors next summer.
I am crippled by the camera, the view blocked by leaves,
see the beaver gnawing at the beech. I am choosing
the spiritual leader, and building the throne. I am inviting
the father to the wedding of opposites, to the apse
where I will take my last vows. I am writing these vows
as we speak. I commit them to paper.
Betsy Fogelman Tighe has published widely in literary magazines, including TriQuarterly, for which she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and twice in Rattle, for whom she traveled to LA to read. She has won a third place and a first place prize from the Oregon Poetry Association. Her full-length manuscript has been semi-finalist for the Snake Nation Press Violet Reed Haas Poetry Prize and the Hidden Rivers Willow Run Book Award. Ilya Kaminsky chose a poem as a semi-finalist for the 2020 Loraine Williams Poetry Prize. Tighe's essay about her mentorship with James Wright appears in the Spring, 2018 issue of The Georgia Review. She retired in 2022 from her good work as a teacher-librarian in Portland, OR where she also pays some notice to her garden, and values the presence of two young adult children.