Coming Into Focus
Rereading Anna Karenina
for the umpteenth time,
but as a mother with grandkids,
I pause at parts I once skimmed,
linger on the children’s
laughter and little scissors,
skimming the love affairs,
focusing mostly on Levin,
scything in hot sun,
evoking my Polish husband,
fluent in Russian,
who died with a well-marked
War and Peace on his nightstand,
whom we buried in his old bear coat,
his rusted scythe leaning on the barn wall,
his pecs so well defined,
haying our acres, cutting firewood,
raising horses,
his bee-tending and intellect,
all so like Levin,
I finally start to see
who I was really married to.
First published in Mudfish
I wrote this poem in response to a prompt given by Joni Cole in a prompt writing class. If I remember right, she said the words “Who Am I?” or “Who Were You?”… and this was our prompt. We were given ten minutes to scribble away, and I found myself following the trail of what I had just been reading, Anna Karenina. I am always inspired by Joni Cole’s classes.
What Inspires You
Other poets inspire me. I read a poem, and it often will trigger an idea or a memory. I have a daily meditation practice, and that mind-clearing is important to me, allowing the chatter to quiet, and the deeper feelings to emerge.
Bio
Laura Foley is the author of eleven previous poetry collections, including, most recently, Sledding the Valley of the Shadow, and Ice Cream for Lunch. She has won a Narrative Magazine Poetry Prize, Common Good Books Poetry Prize, Poetry Box Editor’s Choice Chapbook Award, Bisexual Book Award, and others. Her work has been widely published in such journals as Alaska Quarterly, Valparaiso Poetry Review, American Life in Poetry, and anthologies such as How to Love the World and Poetry of Presence. She holds graduate degrees in Literature from Columbia University, and lives with her wife and their two romping canines on the steep banks of the Connecticut River in New Hampshire.
Find the Spring 2026 Issue HERE
Previous NPM 2026 poets
| April 1 | Amy Forstadt |
| April 2 | Annette Sisson |
| April 3 | Beth Kanell |
| April 4 | Bonnie Proudfoot |
| April 5 | Charles Stringer |
| April 6 | D. Dina Friedman |
| April 7 | David Colodney |
| April 8 | Deanna Ludwin |
| April 9 | Eileen Pettycrew |
| April 10 | Felice Alexandra |
| April 11 | Grace Massey |
| April 12 | Hallie Fogarty |
| April 13 | Isabel Cristina Legarda |
| April 14 | Jon Yungkans |
| April 15 | Kim Welliver |
| April 16 | Laura Foley |