No one told her to go. Mary just did,
the Divine not much bigger than a promise
or a clump of mustard seeds,
tiny embryo in the ripe womb
of her faith, the predestined descant
of an ancient hymn soaring toward Adonai,
Be it unto me according to thy word,
the response she still sang
after the Archangel’s P.S.:
Elizabeth, the barren one, had conceived,
the yet-unborn babe preparing the way
for Mary’s child, Son of the Most High.
And so “in haste,” the young teen went,
in faith believing the unbelievable,
claiming the proclamation forty miles
downhill to the plains of Jericho,
twenty steep miles up to the Holy City,
across the marketplace, down again
among vineyards and trees
to Zechariah’s house
and her beloved cousin,
whose fetus leapt with hope, with joy.
Blessed art thou among women.
And then the Magnificat.
And then two mothers,
one old, one young,
embracing the prophesy,
embracing each other.
For the Mighty One has done great things
for me for us and holy is His name.
Poetry Moment host for WPSU-FM, assistant editor of Presence: A Journal of Catholic Poetry, and Professor Emerita of English at the Lock Haven campus of Commonwealth University, Marjorie Maddox has published 17 collections of poetry—including How Can I Look It Up When I Don’t Know How It’s Spelled? Spelling Mnemonics and Grammar Tricks (Kelsay Books), Seeing Things (Wildhouse), and Hover Here (forthcoming, Broadstone Books), as well as the ekphrastic collaborations Small Earthly Space; Heart Speaks, Is Spoken For (both with Karen Elias), and In the Museum of My Daughter’s Mind (with daughter Anna Lee Hafer www.hafer.work, and others), a 2023 Dragonfly Book Award in photography/fine arts and American Fiction Winner Award in poetry. Maddox also has published a story collection, 4 children’s books, and the anthologies Common Wealth: Contemporary Poets on Pennsylvania and Keystone Poetry (co-editor with Jerry Wemple, PSU Press). She is the great grandniece of Branch Rickey, the General Manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who helped Jackie Robinson break the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Her middle-grade biography, A Man Named Branch: The True Story of Baseball’s Great Experiment, is forthcoming from Sunbury Press. For more information, see www.marjoriemaddox.com