A Suit or a Suitcase: Poems
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Instant New York Times bestselling author and poet Maggie Smith returns with a new collection of poems on the sometimes-blurry distinction between mind and body, and how the self shifts and moves through time and space. The title of Maggie Smith's new collection comes from the eponymous poem: You ask what I'll miss about this life.
Everything but cruelty, I think. But you want one specific thing,
so here--I'll miss my body. I'll miss its companionship, how it's traveled
with me, never leaving me--& by me, I mean my mind. My soul? My self?
I don't know what to call it, and besides, my body hasn't traveled with me.
I've traveled inside it. Do I wear it or does it carry me? Is the body a suit
or a suitcase? Within, poems turn over the strange relationships between the body and the mind, the self and the world. With her signature tenderness and clarity of observation, and with stunning swoops of imagination, Smith considers--and reconsiders--what it is to be human: Does one life matter in the grand scheme of space and time? How can it be that we are the same people we were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, but also different people? And could there be more to life, just beyond the borders of we can experience? Each poem is an ode to the power of our minds and proof that both a life and a self, whether within a suit or a suitcase, is infinitely expandable.
Washington Square Press
A Suit or a Suitcase: Poems
$25.00
Sale price
$25.00
Regular price
Everything but cruelty, I think. But you want one specific thing,
so here--I'll miss my body. I'll miss its companionship, how it's traveled
with me, never leaving me--& by me, I mean my mind. My soul? My self?
I don't know what to call it, and besides, my body hasn't traveled with me.
I've traveled inside it. Do I wear it or does it carry me? Is the body a suit
or a suitcase? Within, poems turn over the strange relationships between the body and the mind, the self and the world. With her signature tenderness and clarity of observation, and with stunning swoops of imagination, Smith considers--and reconsiders--what it is to be human: Does one life matter in the grand scheme of space and time? How can it be that we are the same people we were ten, twenty, or thirty years ago, but also different people? And could there be more to life, just beyond the borders of we can experience? Each poem is an ode to the power of our minds and proof that both a life and a self, whether within a suit or a suitcase, is infinitely expandable.
Book Details
- Publisher:
- Washington Square Press
- ISBN:
- 9781668090053
- Binding:
- Hardcover
- Pages:
- 128
- Authors:
- Maggie Smith
- Published Date:
- 2026-03-24
- Language:
- English
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About Maggie Smith
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Which poetry book are you currently reading?
Maggie Smith's A Suit or a Suitcase: Poems (Washington Square Press), as well as the book from the upcoming guest of the Rattlecast every week! I'm enjoying the overall metaphor of this book, as well as the concision of the lines. Kudos for the surrealist cover image as well!