"Life, like a poem, is a series of choices." In You Could Make This Place Beautiful, poet Maggie Smith explores the disintegration of her marriage and her renewed commitment to herself. The book begins with heartbreak, but its scope widens to become a reckoning with contemporary femininity, traditional gender roles, and the power dynamics that persist even in the most modern of couples. Smith weaves together snapshots of her life with meditations on secrets, rage, forgiveness, and self-narrative. Page after page, these fragments build into an interrogation of family, work, and love.