The Before Picture
By Maggie Smith
It’s complicated, my relationship status
with progress. I often prefer
the “before” picture. The future
is where I’m going only because
I have no choice, because time
moves in one direction, dragging
a bit of itself behind like meat.
An unseen hand keeps
tugging it—time’s rabbit leg,
time’s hunk of red venison—
just out of reach. Did I just describe
the future as bait? Am I strung
along? I know, when I arrive there,
it won’t be there. Won’t be that.
It’ll be now, the way it is
right now. And again. Refresh,
refresh, refresh. The befores
pile up behind me. It’s now again.
Notes:
“The Before Picture” copyright © 2026 by Maggie Smith. From the forthcoming book A Suit or a Suitcase by Maggie Smith to be published by Washington Square Press/Atria Books, an Imprint of Simon & Schuster, LLC. Printed by permission.
Source: Poetry (January/February 2026)