The Atlantic | June 2003 | First Pantoum of Summer

Contents | June 2003

More on poetry from The Atlantic Monthly.

The Atlantic Monthly | June 2003

First Pantoum of Summer

by Erica Funkhouser

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Hear the author read this poem (in RealAudio)

One sleep depletes, another fills the well
Our night's companion shapes the coming day.
My bed this morning grew drafty as a cell
When you took off for town. I couldn't stay.

Our night's companion shapes the coming day,
And where we make our bed can make us weep.
When you took off for town, I couldn't stay.
I fell into these words—a second sleep.

Where we make our bed can make us weep
Or leave us a clean and clear and ravenous.
I fell into these words—a second sleep,
A summer sleep, the windows generous.

You left me clean and clear and ravenous.
I drank new air, a warm and welcome stream
Of summer sleep, the windows generous.
Here or away, you lead me out of dream.

I drank new air, a warm and welcome stream.
My bed this morning grew drafty as a cell.
Here or away, you lead me out of dream.
One sleep depletes, another fills the well.

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Erica Funkhouser teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her fourth book of poetry, Pursuit, was published last year.