Ruth Bavetta – As It Ought To Be

Ruth Bavetta: “Stargazers”

Posted on November 2, 2022 by asitoughttobemagazine

Stargazers 

Lilies strain from the mouth 
of the vase by the window, open 

their throats to the sky, stretching
toward the accumulation of clouds,

furred stamens powdered red
as starling’s blood. The shadows

of the room, the scent of 
perfume heavy as tomorrow’s end

held in stasis for seven steady 
days as stems collapse in secret

and leaves transmute to slime. 
In this world of sorrow and of loss 

all things must fail, must come to moss
and murder, must disintegrate

in damp and dust. And we must 
open our throats, and swallow.

About the Author: Ruth Bavetta’s poems have appeared in North American Review, Nimrod, Rattle, Slant, American Journal of Poetry, and many other journals and anthologies. She likes the light on November afternoons, the music of Stravinsky, the smell of the ocean. She hates pretense, fundamentalism and sauerkraut.

Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Fire Lily” (2022)

AIOTB Magazine’s 2022 Pushcart Nominees

Posted on November 20, 2021November 20, 2021 by asitoughttobemagazine

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As It Ought To Be Magazine is proud to announce our nominees for the Pushcart Prize.

Jason Baldinger: “Let Go of Atlantis”

Sam Barbee: “Hybrid”

Ruth Bavetta: “Signals”

Lisa Creech Bledsoe: “The Magician’s Handbook”

Susan Cossette: “She Waits Behind the Drapes”

Imran Boe Khan: “A Thousand Miles from Your Bedside”

Thank you to our nominees and all our contributors this year who have filled our site with their stunning poetry.

Ruth Bavetta: “Signals”

Posted on September 17, 2021September 17, 2021 by asitoughttobemagazine

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Signals

This winter did not bring the hazy world
of wet, nor the susurrus of falling

beads of rain, yet the year proceeded.

Green hills faded to brown. The flowering
plum became a harbinger too soon.

Now we have the nameless season elbowing

into spring. Rudely thrusting back the rain
it beckons summer heat before its time,

pulls forth the breath of August

while April dissolves in bright and light,
calls for spark and ember, the errant

cigarette, the bit of broken glass,

tears up the pages of the calendar
to build an illicit and illegal fire

that will last to light our closing.

About the Author: Ruth Bavetta’s poems have appeared in Rattle, Nimrod, American Poetry Review, Tar River Review, North American Review and many other journals and anthologies. Her books are Fugitive Pigments and Flour, Water, Salt (Futurecycle Press), Embers on the Stairs (Moon Tide Press), and No Longer at This Address (Aldrich Press). She has been a Best of the Net and Pushcart Prize nominee.

More By Ruth Bavetta:

Neon Boneyard

A Murder

Spell to Name the Unnameable

Image Credit: Chase Dimock “Utah Cliffs”(2021)

Ruth Bavetta: “Spell to Name the Unnameable”

Posted on August 20, 2021August 21, 2021 by asitoughttobemagazine

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Spell to Name the Unnameable

Light small fires against the screen
that separates close from distant.
Petition the sea tern to spin the compass,
the horse to silhouette the sky.
Burn mushrooms, magazines,
and mayberries salted with stars.
Balance rainbow upon rainbow
until there is no trace of longing,
no residue of what was lost.
Follow the red clay road
over the hill to an unspecified town
where the houses are unnumbered
and the answer lies buried
under the doorstone. Leave
your footprints leading away.