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Gaza
In the corner of my door, two
wattled a nest—
no bigger than my thumb
but gray and dense
as a cinder-block slum.
Each hexacomb throbbed
with an egg, its wary
parents tense and flexing
like posed threats, stingers
ready as triggers.
I didn’t blame them. This
is peace—or close
as we get. I’d slide out the side door,
to see it last. But by August,
there were thirty, then more.
I ceded this corner
and they seemed agreed,
but each night that passed
before the mask and the Raid,
they swarmed my dreams.
David H. Freedman on smartphone apps and the perfected self, Mark Bowden on being in the dumb kids' class, James Parker on Glenn Beck, Isaac Chotiner on P. G. Wodehouse, and more
Browse back issues of The Atlantic that have appeared on the Web. From September 1995 to the present, the archive is essentially complete, with the exception of a few articles, the online rights to which are held exclusively by the authors.
See All Back Issues: September 1995
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New York City Ballet: A Crystal Palace 
The Speed of Light 
Synthetic Biology 
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