Cynthia Zarin is a poet, children’s book author, and journalist. She has been a regular contributor to The New Yorker since 1983. Her poetry has been praised for “its slightly offbeat perspective on mundane, typically overlooked topics.” This morning I was walking upstairsfrom the kitchen, carrying yourbeautiful flowers, the flowers youbrought me last night, calla liliesand something else, I am notsure what to call them, white flowers,of course you had no way of knowingit has been years since I bought white flowers—but now you haveand here they are again. I was carryingyour flowers and a coffee cupand a soft yellow handbag and a bookof poems by a Chinese poet, inwhich…

I’ve been missing the ocean more than usual these days. The warmer weather makes me want to stroll on a beach in the evening. I love the beach when the sun is going down, the people are leaving, and the sand begins to cool. Searching for shells and sea glass in the last of the day’s light is the perfect way to spend a summer evening. Mary Oliver’s poem is about the beach in the morning which is also lovely. Basically, there is never a bad time to be by the ocean. I go down to the edge of the sea.How everything shines in the morning light!The cusp of the…

Margaret Atwood is probably best known for her novel The Handmaid’s Tale but she is also a poet, literary critic and inventor. She invented the LongPen which allowed people to write in ink remotely by means of a tablet and the internet. Atwood’s poetry addresses women’s concerns and the suffering they endure. As Atwood has said, “My women suffer because most of the women I talk to seem to have suffered.” You begin this way:this is your hand,this is your eye,that is a fish, blue and flaton the paper, almostthe shape of an eye.This is your mouth, this is an Oor a moon, whicheveryou like. This is yellow.Outside the windowis…