"Conduit" Corner: William Waltz Presents a Poem by Sabrina Orah Mark

Assembling an issue of Conduit sometimes feels like building a giant electron telescope and pointing it toward deep space. We never know what our mad invention will reveal until we peer through the viewfinder. We do know that the efforts and imaginations of many are required to bring our collective dream into focus every six months. In the case of the current issue, “Humans ‘N Nature,” over forty people helped to calibrate its searching eye.

For the majority, it was their first time in Conduit, but for a dozen contributors it was their second or third or fourth time between our covers. Last week I mentioned the joy of finding a wildflower among the weeds. Another great pleasure is to champion, over time, a writer whose work we admire and whom is, presumably, fond of us.

One such poet is Sabrina Orah Mark. Three of our issues have featured her prose poems, including “The 10 Stages of Beatrice,” which can be found below and in her forthcoming book Tsim Tsum (Saturnalia Books). To our enormous satisfaction, “The 10 Stages of Beatrice” was selected by Heather McHugh for the Best American Poetry 2007.

Ms. Mark’s recurring characters, Beatrice and Walter B., inhabit a world fecund with Old World charm and inanimate objects of mysterious significance, and, in the process of rendering this world, Sabrina Orah Mark has created a timeless fable full of longing, humor, and tendernes

-- William Waltz

THE 10 STAGES OF BEATRICE

Stage 1. — Belonging.

In the first stage Beatrice is precisely labeled and timed. She is able to divise complex graphs, answer questions in the order that they're asked, and construct coherent narratives without nostalgia or actual fear. There is no display of loud sobbing, nor are there visions.

Stage 2.— Happy.

Beatrice, during the second stage, believes she is alive. The possibility that she is not alive, in this stage, never enters her mind. This stage is only possible if the spectacle comes to town.

Stage 3. — Walter B.

This stage is also called "the latch stage." It is Beatrice at her most historical and strange.

Stage 4. — Romance.

Beatrice is hunted, captured, and softly strung to a tree. In this stage words are used to intoxicate, supply, and deceive. These words are rarely interesting. Gifts are exchanged that are of no use.

Stage 5. — Dread.

Beatrice is covered in feathers and twigs. She believes she is a nest. This stage, if it occurs in winter, is also called "The Babies."

Stage 6. — Slice. 

The sixth stage often appears in Beatrice's hand like a long instrument with a blade at the end. She will eat cake, during this stage, until she has visions.

Stage 7. — Cryptozoology.

In the seventh stage Beatrice wears a green dress with large white pockets in which to store the evidence. If this stage is mingled with the second stage, ecstasy is achieved.

Stage 8. — Crowded.

Beatrice is behind glass. In this stage Beatrice is blurred by the humans who observe her without caution. 

Stage 9. — Poland.

Beatrice gathers her grandfather into her arms. She recites him from his memory. The ninth stage sounds like this: tsim tsum, tsim tsum, tsim tsum.

Stage 10. — Return.

In the final stage Beatrice watches Beatrice feed the babies with a spade.

-- Sabrina Orah Mark