The Atlantic | March 2002 | Mary Cassatt: The Letter (1890-1891)

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More on poetry from The Atlantic Monthly.

The Atlantic Monthly | March 2002

Mary Cassatt: The Letter (1890-1891)

by Joan I. Siegel

.....

Hear Joan I. Siegel read this poem (in RealAudio)

All day it is with her like a song
even as she slices a breakfast orange,
brushes her hair,
shuts a window.
She is listening to it
when company calls
and she talks about yesterday's news,
pours tea,
says good-bye at the door.
Then, alone with it finally
in late afternoon,
she puts it on the desk,
arranges it
as though she were putting flowers in a vase.
Then she slips it into the envelope,
seals it with her tongue.

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