Margaret Marcum

Margaret Marcum graduated from the MFA program in creative writing at Florida Atlantic University. Her poems have appeared in Amethyst Review, Barzakh Magazine, Coffin Bell Journal, and Children, Churches, and Daddies, among others. She is author of the poetry chapbook, Recognition of Movement (Bottlecap Press, 2023).

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► Margaret Marcum's microchap & (selected) poems are available below. Download the single-page PDF by clicking the title.

Origami Microchap with Selected Poems

Torch of Enlightenment

Click title to download micro

Cover photo by JanK

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Immaculate Flame

Aloneness beseeches the primal prayer,
through what was lost is found. I
go on searching, flying through the
rafters of the moon in my canoe,
a vessel of warmth,
her wings folding in prayer,
continuously aware:
heat is joy &
I will cross
the finish line, aflame,

Torch of Enlightenment.

Compassion

I remember being very young,
living in Santa Barbara,
and playing in my room.

I remember all my toys surrounding me,
and I was very angry over something,
I can’t remember.

I remember throwing a pink plastic ice cream cone
on the floor, in tears,
and my mother stooping to retrieve it.

I remember her telling me,
we don’t treat our toys this way,
and before leaving she gently placed it by my side.

I remember feeling sadness,
and grieving for the object I had just abused—
that was my first memory experiencing compassion.

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