Upon Hearing the News You Buried Our Dog by Aimee Nezhukumatathil

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend May 20, 2014   Upon Hearing the News You Buried Our Dog   Aimee Nezhukumatathil

I have faith in the single glossy capsule of a butterfly egg. I have faith in the way a wasp nest is never quiet and never wants to be. I have faith that the pile of forty painted turtles balanced on top of each other will not fall as the whole messy mass makes a scrabble-run for the creek and away from a fox’s muddy paws. I have been thinking of you on these moonless nights— nights so full of blue fur and needle-whiskers, I don’t dare linger outside for long. I wonder if scientists could classify us a binary star—something like Albireo, four-hundred light years away. I love that this star is actually two— one blue, one gold, circling each other, never touching— a single star soldered and edged in two colors if you spy it on a clear night in July. And if this evening, wherever you are, brings you face to face with a raccoon or possum— be careful of the teeth and all that wet bite. During the darkest part of the night, teeth grow longer in their mouths. And if the oleander spins you still another way—take a turn and follow it. It will help you avoid the spun-light sky, what singularity we might’ve become.              Copyright @ 2014 by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “One of my favorite stars to scorch up the summer sky is Albireo, the head of the swan, in the constellation Cygnus. In the second century, Ptolemy included Cygnus in his famous list of forty-eight constellations. In thinking about finding solace in nature, I’m reminded of the marginalia found in Ptolemy’s sky notebooks: ‘I know I am mortal by nature…but when I trace at my pleasure the windings to and fro of the heavenly bodies, I no longer touch earth with my feet.’” —Aimee Nezhukumatathil   Aimee Nezhukumatathil is the author of three books of poetry, most recently Lucky Fish (Tupelo Press, 2011). She is a professor of English at SUNY Fredonia. Most Recent Book by Nezhukumatathil   Lucky Fish (Tupelo Press, 2011) “Orion” by Susan Gevirtz “Skylab” by Rolf Jacobsen “The Truth About Northern Lights” by Christine Hume Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038