Given Up, by Jeanette Beebe

Jeanette Beebe is a poet and journalist. Her work has appeared in Nat Brut, Side B, Imagine Magazine, Ariel, and Lyrical Iowa. Her undergraduate thesis at Princeton, “An Instrument for Blinking,” was advised by Tracy K. Smith. She reports for WHYY-FM (NPR, Philadelphia), and is a Master’s student in NYU’s Science, Health, and Environmental Reporting Program. Jeanettebeebe.com


Poet on the poem:
“Given Up,” for me, feels like a letter. It’s also a poem, full of questions: about love, place, and where we “come from.” Exploring what uncertainty feels like is something that poetry’s particularly good at; it’s a language well-suited for tackling the “in-between.” Thanks to Susan Wheeler and Christian Barter, who helped me shape this poem, and to Tracy K. Smith, who encouraged me to ask the hard questions.