You Could Make This Place Beautiful

by Maggie Smith

How I picture it: We are all nesting dolls, carrying the earlier iterations of ourselves inside. We carry the past inside us. We take ourselves—all of our selves—wherever we go.

Every few weeks, I would drive the six hours to Columbus for a long weekend, braving the specific hell that was the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I feel this line deeply lol

John Ciardi’s “Most Like an Arch This Marriage.”