Anticipation

Anticipation is a book of poetry which, while touching on Marguerite Watkins upbringing in India, for the most part is inspired by her life as an adult in America and by her mothers family stories. Her first book of poetry, Patterns in Henna, contained poems about her memories as the daughter of missionary parents in India and she has also written a memoir, Two Taproots, Growing Up in the Forties in India and America. The poems in this book deal with the next part of her life.


The author has arranged her poetry into five sections. Section I deals with attitudes towards possessions things that are more than things. II is about family, especially her mothers New England relatives since Patterns in Henna has poems inspired by her fathers life. In III we hear other voices and see other places, including the authors impressions when traveling. IV describes the circle of the Virginia seasons and includes several poems about hiking in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The poetry in V is more contemplative. The author is older now, more mellow, and comes full circle in her thoughts about life.


Instead of describing them the author has chosen to share a sample poem from each of the five sections.


**Section I


The Owl in the Christmas Tree**


As I crept down the stairs

to plug in the Christmas lights

before the children came down,

two wide topaz eyes stared out

from the tip of the cedar,

a small owl barred brown and white

with talons gripping the star.


I woke the children, Look,

I breathed, .look,

he must have come down the chimney.

See the flakes of soot on the hearth.

We opened the door

and nudged him with a rake

until reluctantly he flew into an oak.


These are the things you live for --

not designer-wrapped gifts,

the year-end bonus, the red velvet dress,

but a moment of wonder,

of surfeit

rose-breasted grosbeaks eating holly berries,

wind rich with the spice of wild azaleas,

full moon through river mist --

the owl in the Christmas tree.


Section II

Aisle Eight, Cat Food


My father stands by the cat food display

each Monday.

Carefully dressed in suit and tie,

he brightens when shoppers stop their carts,

gravely gives tips to serious ones

who spend a long time reading labels,

pondering choices,

sardine or shrimp, whitefish or chicken,

flaked or smothered in gravy,

a difficult choice, the menu

for a true patrician.


I had a cat, he shyly offers, Premi;

it means beloved one.

He slept at the foot of my bed,

and sat on the table to drink the milk

out of my cereal bowl.

No cats at the retirement home, the lady said,

but Premi died beforehand.

He was old too, you know,

and lame. Premi was a great hunter in his prime,

stalking a squirrel or chipmunk like a cheetah.

He was that fast!

His favorites were the Nine Lives tuna

and Whiskas chicken in sauce.


Three aisles over, Mother

selects Campbell's tomato soup for his lunch,

cornmeal muffins, sliced Velveeta, applesauce.

Where's the old gentleman,

the stock boy asks.


He'll be waiting in pet food, aisle eight,

hoping for someone to come by

who likes to talk about cats.


**Section III


Camelopard**


Giraffe, you regard existence

through your fringed Cleopatra eyes.

With Modigliani neck neither stretched nor strained,

your velvet lips select

new growth at the top of an acacia tree,

leaf buds tight and tender as fiddle-heads,

a connoisseur, the gourmand

samp