Wise Woman

Abstract

Wise Woman Camille Guthrie (bio) Wise woman of Vermont, come out of the forestAssure me I won't die lonely in these woods, show meHow to keep owls out of my hair, tell me howTo stack wood, to shoot trespassers, to seal the cracksIn my heart to keep the ice out, promise meA catamount won't think I'm foodMake me a pot of venison stewWhile you describe what to expect during the ChangesWhen you no longer sleep and my sorrow seems girlishTeach me how to trim my whiskers when I get witchyAdvise me which mushrooms won't kill us quicklySuggest stapling my son to the wall till he's twenty-sevenTell me of your childless aunt who died asking for her kidsHow do I make it in this cold hard land?Tell me where the treasure's buriedWhat's the song I have to sing to myself? [End Page 10] Camille Guthrie Camille Guthrie is the author of four books of poetry: Diamonds (BOA Editions, fall 2021); Articulated Lair: Poems for Louise Bourgeois (2013), In Captivity (2006), and The Master Thief (2000)—published by Subpress. Her poems have appeared in such journals as At Length, Boston Review, Interim, The Iowa Review, The New Republic, Poem-A-Day, Tin House, as well as in several anthologies including The Best of American Poetry 2019 & 2020 (Scribner). The Director of the Undergraduate Writing Initiatives at Bennington College, she lives in rural Vermont with her two children. Copyright © 2021 Pleiades and Pleiades Press