Her father’s operatic recitation of E. E. Cummings’ grand little poem, Buffalo Bill's, over morning coffee preparation was Cary Spaeth’s introduction to poetry as a child. A prevalent poetic sensibility continues to inform her life on a daily basis.
A practitioner of writing, yoga, and a barista, Cary maintains a presence that is at once graceful, centered, and, if not immediately accessible, definitively generous. She is noticeably striking, with a presentation of jewelry that is both bold and lovely, the silver of her sizable rings and earrings relating fluently with her overall appearance.
She cites Cormac McCarthy as one of several prevalent creative influences, specifically The Crossing, the second novel in McCarthy’s Border Trilogy. The Crossing was a recommendation from her father after she recounted to him looking into the eyes of a wolf, an experience that was chilling due to the creature’s palpable intelligence. She says of her face-to-face encounter with the wolf, “it was like looking into wild.” The McCarthian influence is effective in her poems, which often speak of human’s relationship to nature and engage with an awe of the living world. Additionally poignant is a reminiscent sparseness of language, a holding back of flourish or detail, which lends a richness for its focused intention toward the subjects and the moment evoked.
The poems selected for her self-published work, 1, launched in April 2011, which features the writing of fellow Portland poets Joshua Otto and Erin Galvez, are quiet works. Due in part to their brevity and humility, they demand a patient reading. Her short lines—often less than four words—couple sweetly with the succinct stanzas and clear diction. For this, and their themes of the city and the moments in which it relates to its more organic surroundings, they evoke the Imagism of William Carlos Williams. In context, however, they retain a sense of the contemporary, reflexively referencing popular culture only when necessary. While she writes poetry exclusively, she says, “I think all the poems tell stories.” She adeptly describes some of her pieces as “little flashes,” yet their strike of light is one of slowness and breadth, conducting a space for the reader and poem to engage each other.
Her literary background includes a degree Portland State University (PSU), after transferring from Lewis and Clark College. She chose to major in Liberal Studies, with a minor in English, allowing her to focus on three areas of study: Contemporary American Poetry, Caribbean Folklore, and Literature of South America.
It is evident that for Cary engaging with poetry is both a disciplined and spiritual creative endeavor, a motif grounded in her manner of living. She is presently finishing up her tenth year working in coffee, and moving toward focusing her time to becoming a yoga teacher. This is a transition that need not exclude her literary craft, however, since for Cary, yoga is a process in accord with writing, each relating to an archeology of peeling away layers to reach another self.
we saw the stars tonight
from the stoop, smoking
under the overhang
of woven tree limbs.
have you known a sky
without a city?
stars that pour their light
into rivers that breathe
where trees drink
beside them?
my city is perched
on the bones
of its past, the ghost
of the river swells
and recedes
and is perfect glass
on quiet nights;
and the bridges cross
east to west.
Photos by Destiny Lane
