Solving for X: Wagner’s Tenth
J. Khan Solving for X,by Maryfrances Wagner, Spartan Press, 2022. Solving for X is by far Maryfrances Wagner’s most powerful writing. She writes in a direct Midwestern narrative style, often recounting her Italian family roots, as well as her love of animal and winged life. However, her most recent poems also examine her years as a teacher and the difficult lives she touched. I quizzed her about this a few months back, and we agreed that her poetry in Solving for X had both jumped to a new level and found a surprising new direction. Wagner is always busy: writing poetry and co-editing the I-70 Review. She just served two years as Missouri’s poet laureate. As a past editor of New Letters Review of Books and recipient of the 2020 Missouri Arts Award, she shows no signs of slowing down. Readers will find that same remarkable and focused energy channeled into her eponymously titled tenth book Solving for X. Wagner retains the signature wry humor and earnest delivery that have underpinned her decades of popularity and national presence. As well, she has added a level of hard-earned but confident perspicacity. In her poem “Cataract Surgery” she writes: Over in seven minutes, we awake, wobbly, and step from the amber varnish of a dark