You Could Make This Place Beautiful

Maggie Smith

• Publisher: Canongate Books
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9781805302421
• eBook ISBN:
  9781805302438
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

In her long-awaited debut memoir, award-winning poet Maggie Smith explores in lyrical vignettes the end of her marriage and the beginning of a surprising new life. It is a story about a mother's fierce and constant love for her children, and a woman's love and regard for herself.

Above all, this memoir is an argument for possibility. Smith reveals how, in the aftermath of loss, we can discover our power and make something new. Something beautiful.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Prologue
• Pinecone
• Postcard
• Grenade
• A Note on Conventions
• Sleight of Hand
• Some People Ask
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• A Note on Setting
• How it Began
• The Play
• A Note on Plot
• There’s Kubrick, and then there’s this
• Living in Sin
• A Note on Foreshadowing
• The Play
• Half-Double
• A Note on Foreshadowing
• After Reading “Mock Orange”
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Bittersweet
• Violet
• Grounds
• First Fall
• The Play
• A Note on Character
• A Note on Betrayal
• The Leap
• The Material
• Here We Go Again
• Rhett
• Here Comes The Sun
• A Note on Inciting Incidents
• A Note on The Author’s Intention
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• An Offering
• A Note on Foreshadowing
• Hidden Pictures
• Good Bones
• This Wasn’t The Deal
• On Second Thought
• Some People Will Ask
• The Bully Won?
• Not That One
• A Note on Foreshadowing
• But Here’s The Thing
• A Note on Betrayal
• Clues To The Mystery
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Please Don’t
• The Spreadsheet
• On Second Thought
• Bruises
• In The Beginning
• Pinecone
• Crying On The Couch
• The Play
• A Note on Conflict & Crisis
• The Material
• The Last Family Vacation
• It Isn’t About The Waves
• The Water
• Taking Down The Pictures
• Something Like Relief
• A Note on Plot
• Some People Ask
• Bank Lollipops
• Grounds
• This Moment Isn’t For You
• Bittersweet
• Keep Moving
• Ghost Story
• Lucky Thirteen
• Updating and Unblurring
• On Second Thought
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• The Edits
• Sad-Ass Divorce Dreams
• About The Body
• A Note On The Title
• Ghost Story
• The Stages
• A Note on Character
• A Note on Plot
• On This Day
• Picture of My Dress
• Rewinding The Film
• Some People Ask
• Bittersweet
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Mother’s Day
• About The Body
• The Firsts
• On Second Thought
• Ghost Story
• Sure You Are
• It Wasn’t All Bad
• A Note on Betrayal
• Air Quotes
• The Play
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Empire Builder
• Gen X Forever & Ever, Amen
• The Vision Part of the Board
• Quarter Missing
• Self-Portrait
• The Profile
• Ghost Story
• Signing The Papers
• The Poem
• Lemonade
• The Play
• Photo Essay That Won’t Happen
• Joke
• The Second Christmas
• A Note on Motifs
• A Note on Setting
• Quarantine Skate Club
• Email, Subject Line: Update
• It’s Still There
• Some People Will Ask
• What Now, Mom?
• Because I Was A Beggar
• A Note on Plot
• Email, Subject Line: Update
• This is Where I Completely Freaked Out
• Bubbles
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Keep Moving
• Things I Know for Sure
• The Sparks
• A Half Hour To Cry
• A Note on Betrayal
• An Offering
• Grenade
• Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing
• Sad-Ass Divorce Dream
• When It Rains, It Pours
• About The Body
• I’m All Yours
• Fathomed
• An Offering
• This Moment Isn’t For You
• Tell-Mine
• The Archive I Have
• Some People Ask
• Because You Can’t Misplace Your Earlobe
• Hidden Valentines
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Home
• Bittersweet
• Well, He Should Know
• But Here’s The Thing, Walt
• An Offering
• More Sad-Ass Divorce Dreams, Or The Little Red Hen in Reverse
• The Slideshow
• A Note on The Author’s Intention
• Nostalgia
• The Play
• A Pantoum, A Villanelle, A Ghazal
• Disposable
• Ghost Story
• Jackpot
• On Second Thought
• When The Metaphor is Right There
• Icarus Flew Before He Fell
• About The Body
• The Contract
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Some People Ask
• Punching Bag
• One Small Step
• Birds
• Bees
• When The Metaphor is Right There
• Above The Real
• Outrage
• The Material
• This is What We Call A Full-Circle Moment
• Caregiver
• Forty Things
• Postcard
• The Things
• Great White
• The Intangibles
• Joke
• It Wasn’t All Bad
• Another Mother’s Day
• Some People Will Ask
• Years That Question
• The Play
• The Material
• The Scraps
• A Note on Form
• A Kind of Cento, Collaged From Pieces of The Whole
• A Note on The Title
• Magical Thinking
• A Note on Plot
• A Friend Says Every Book Begins with an Unanswerable Question
• Golden
• Rainbow Connection
• It Gets Pretty Woo Here
• Updating and Unblurring
• Full Disclosure
• Some People Will Ask
• Magical Thinking
• How it Ends
• Calling Myself Darling
• Bride
• Acknowledgments
• Credits