Mary Beth Watt
About Mary Beth Watt
Posts by Mary Beth Watt:
Poetry in the Modern World
Most mornings for more than ten years I have been a part of a conference call joined by up to twelve lovers of poetry. We refer to it as the call of joy. It begins with one of us reading a poem (or several) that we have selected and includes both discussion and, often, a […]
What are Poets For?
I have a friend who encourages me in my poetry, but who doesn’t understand why I want my poems to go out into the world. To her, writing them is enough. In some senses that may be true. But not for me. I have written poetry since I was in my early teens, and loved […]
Sunrise, Sunset
Sometimes I play a game when I read poetry, trying to decide how much of the poem is about the poet’s own life. Of course, poetry is a form that often carries the feelings, if not the facts, of its creator’s life. I will save you the conjecture here, though. This poem is a description […]
Zoom Meeting
Yes, I wrote this during a Zoom meeting when I was tired of being at the Zoom meeting. In truth, I am vastly grateful that Zoom has allowed us to continue many aspects of our lives that might otherwise have been impossible. I have been to a Zoom wedding and a Zoom funeral, not to […]
Virus Game
We often try to think ahead, trying to guess the outcome of whatever events we are experiencing. In doing so at the beginning of the pandemic, I began to think about not only what might be, but what I wanted to be. If thoughts become things, I want to think the best ones. Virus […]
Maturity
At my age, maturity should be a given. Sometimes, I am, indeed, a mature woman of a certain age, acting with all the propriety I can manage. Other times, not so much. But, beyond how we look and act, what does it really mean to be mature at the various ages of our lives? Maturity […]
I’m a White Chick
Clearly, I am too old to rap… but why should the young people have all the fun? In reality, the rhythm of this poem suggested itself, perhaps because of what I wanted to say when I set out to write it. It has been an education to meet, fall in love with, and marry my […]
November 9, 2016
The date in the title gives the subject of this poem away. Just after Donald Trump became president, the world changed for many of us, becoming a place where it was safe to openly hate people of color or non-normative sexual orientation. As a white woman married to a Black woman, my security in the […]