| [an error occurred while processing this directive] |  |  |
 |  | |
| ||
| |||||||
| |||||||
|
| ||||||
| |||||||
| |||||||
 Contents | December 2003 More on poetry from The Atlantic Monthly. |
The Apparition by Maxine Kumin .....  Hear the author read this poem (in RealAudio)True to his word, our vet comes in late afternoon and kneels in a slant of sun. A pat, a needle stick stills the failing heart. We lower the ancient form to the hemlock-shrouded grave and before the hole is brimmed set a layer of chicken wire to guard against predators so that the earth we broke reforms, a mild mound. The rock we place on top, common glacial granite, is mica-flecked and flat. That night the old dog works his way back up and out, gasping, salted with dirt, and barks his familiar bark at the scribble-scratched back door. I pull on shirt and pants, a Pavlovian response, and stumble half awake downstairs to turn the knob where something, some mortal stub I swear I recognize, some flap of ear or fur, swims out of nothingness and brushes past me into its rightful house.
Maxine Kumin's most recent volumes of poetry are The Long Marriage (2001) and Bringing Together: Uncollected Early Poems 1958-1988 (2003). Copyright © 2003 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved. The Atlantic Monthly; December 2003; The Apparition; Volume 292, No. 5; 100. | [an error occurred while processing this directive] | ||
|
Home |
Current Issue |
Back Issues |
Forum |
Site Guide |
Feedback |
Subscribe |
Search
| ||||
