Laurie Klein reads “Madulce Cabin” by Paul J. Willis
Editor’s Note: “Poems to Listen By” is an audio series where over time we will explore some of the themes in the Poet Laura checklist.
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Poems to Listen By: Yondering—7: When You Came Back
Presented by Laurie Klein
Welcome to the next episode in our new series: “Yondering.” I’m Laurie Klein.
“[There’s] another world within this one,” Abraham Heschel wrote, “whenever we pay attention.”
Can a journey transport us to other dimensions? Can love?
Here’s a poem by Paul J. Willis.
Madulce Cabin: A Fantasy
When you came back
I saw the mountains in your eyes.
Your arms swept out
like long full limbs of sugar pine,
glinting in the final sun. You sagged
on the step, lifting the laces
of your boots like cedar logs
from the forest floor, but still
your eyes spoke luminous heaven,
the miles and country they had seen
never to surprise again as now
received and known in secret.
You cannot tell me. I will not ask.
Your mouth tastes like melting snow.
—Paul J. Willis
What journey left you speechless? What is it asking of you now?
“Not I, nor anyone else, can travel that road for you,” Walt Whitman says. “You must travel it for yourself.”
You’ve just heard “Malduce Cabin: A Fantasy” by Paul J. Willis, from his collection Visiting Home.
I’m Laurie Klein. Thank you for joining me.
Photo by @ S@ndrine, Creative Commons license via Flickr. “Malduce Cabin: A Fantasy” by Paul J. Willis, from Visiting Home (Pecan Grove Press, 2008). Used by permission. Post by Laurie Klein. Many thanks to Bill Klein for his performance of “Simple Gifts” as well as engineering (and cheering me on).
- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—7: When You Came Back - April 16, 2025
- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—6: Restricted Travel - March 26, 2025
- Poems to Listen By: Yondering—5: Upon Arrival - March 12, 2025
Bethany R. says
“‘[There’s] another world within this one,’ Abraham Heschel wrote, ‘whenever we pay attention.'”
Thank you for this post and reading. This line you chose to share particularly stuck with me. And now it reminds me of a phrase I heard Naomi Shihab Nye mention interview years ago. (Maybe in an On Being intervew?) It was something she would tape up to help students think about writing from their everyday life. “We are living in a poem.”
Thank you for bringing these poetic presents into my day, Laurie.