Marie Howe

Illustrations by Miki LoweChildhood is a fruitful source of inspiration for artists, but some return to it more than others. The poet Marie Howe is one of them. She grew up in a large Catholic family, the oldest of nine siblings and one of 100 first cousins; she said in 2017 that family is “where everything happens.” If the image that comes to mind is a hectic and happy, Cheaper by the Dozen–type household, you should read her poems: The vignettes she paints can be dark.

Marie Howe’s “What the Living Do” begins with an address to her brother: The kitchen sink has been clogged for days, she writes. The Drano won’t work … it’s winter again … the heat’s on too high.The poem might seem at first like a list of complaints, but it’s a list of gratitudes. Most readers won’t know that Howe’s younger brother John died of AIDS-related complications in 1989.