“The Way Things Are Supposed to Be,” by Daye Phillippo (Poetry ’14)

2014 poetry alum Daye Phillippo was recently featured in Flying Island. Read an excerpt of her poem “The Way Things Are Supposed to Be” below:

The Way Things Are Supposed to Be

Come, walk with me, friend, out to the mailbox

   the way we used to walk together when I lived

across the road. Older sister-friend who graduated 

   from high school, year I was born, and who still lives 

there, widowed and unable to walk much of anywhere, 

   anymore, but who can still go with me on the phone. 

I walk and listen while you tell me about your latest

   doctor’s visit, and that you saw the red fox again, skimming 

across your backyard, and that your first husband is  

   back in your life, a blessing who brings you groceries, 

and rubs your aching back. And I tell you what I see—

   the deer tracks cut deep in the stone-sand 

shoveled to patch the potholes in the gravel drive. 

Read the poem in its entirety here: http://www.flyingislandjournal.org/2021/02/the-way-things-are-supposed-to-be-poem.html