Marginalia, by David Jibson

Freedom From Want, by Normal Rockwell (USA), 1943.

Marginalia

I picture her as the curly-haired girl
in the left foreground of Norman Rockwell's
Freedom From Want.

I met her at a used book store
on a rainy afternoon, the original owner
of The Pocket Book of Robert Frost Poems.

Beatrice was the name written
on the inside front cover of the paperback
which had cost her 35 cents,

a book edited by Louis Untermeyer
with annotations by Beatrice
added in pencil in the margins,

beginning on page sixteen with The Pasture
where Beatrice wrote,
“I love to rake leaves”.

She skipped over Home Burial,
perhaps worried by the darkness of Mr. Frost’s theme.
On page forty-seven, Ghost House, Beatrice notes

how she loved the image of the ruined fence
and I thought to myself,
“so do I, Beatrice.”
A Patch of Old Snow appealed to Beatrice.
She gave it a glowing review.
“I love this poem,” she wrote,“but I hate litter.”

Finally, of Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening,
all Beatrice had to say was,
"I really wish I could have a horse.”
    
David Jibson

David Jibson grew up in western Michigan near the dunes and shores of Lake Michigan and now lives in Ann Arbor. He is retired from a 35-year career in Social Work, most recently with a Hospice agency. He is a member of the Crazy Wisdom Poetry Circle and co-editor of the literary and visual arts magazine, Third Wednesday.