Poetry: “Psychic, 1988: Coloring Memory, New Mexico” by Mary Robles

Mary Robles’ “Psychic, 1988: ColoringMemory,New Mexico,”  is immediately eye catching because of the keenly described sensory detail: in the first lines we see “sweet & bitter chestnut paste,'” and “roses / weeping on his forearms,” both of which are unique and evocative details. But the real intimacy of the poem is not just in the details, but in what they represent. The specificity that Robles draws from these often short and simple lines is admirable, and they tend to stick in the mind. A moment like “My grandfather never had much school / my grandfather smiled gold,” brings us into this intimate space and at the end of the poem, we don’t want to leave the dreamlike world of memory and magic that Robles has built for us. But this is really the sweet & bitter lesson of the poem. Like all memories, even beautiful ones, eventually we must return to the present.