Anne Makeever

Artist Statement: Talking & Listening to Plants

Loss has been on my mind lately. Perhaps because I have outlived my parents and my first boyfriend. Perhaps because it’s been a long winter in Maine—and in the U.S., as we grapple with cold, ice, and ICE, the draconian force chasing, kidnapping, and jailing immigrants who have sought refuge in this big and once more generous country.

Nevertheless, I’m grateful for the inevitability of spring, a gift that feels generous given what we do to the Earth that sustains us. I know spring will bring green shoots and softening soil, and will release the rich, slightly decayed smell of the salt marsh close to my home.

This poem “Abundance” is the result of ruminating about how freely I use what the Earth offers, too often with little thought to where it comes from and why it’s available—and for how long. Now in my 72nd year, I believe my time here—and humanity’s time here—is winding down. May the Earth survive us, scarred but alive.

Anne Makeever lives in Brunswick, Maine, with her partner and an exuberant dog. Before settling there, at the edge of a salt marsh, she lived in Missouri, New York, Michigan, Texas, Colorado, Wisconsin, South Dakota and Iowa. She holds a BA from Eastern Michigan University and an MFA from Washington University, and works as editor-in-chief of Curiosus, a magazine about the art and science of medicine. She has published poems in, among other journals, Helicon Nine, The Eliot, Caliban, River Styx and The Ravens Perch.