Housesitting, Boston, by Tony Trigilio

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend November 14, 2014   Housesitting, Boston,   Tony Trigilio

our first day, a deer loitered outside the kitchen window, chewing a clump of shrubs in the parking lot between their house and the commuter rail tracks to the suburbs.  Furry ears, peach fuzz around the antler tips, soft, dreary eyes— afraid if I moved, I’d break the spell of our ridiculous L.L. Bean tableau. His legs tensed, ready to flee if I reached for the dish soap or squeezed the sponge too hard. We stared, sized each other up: you are Nature— either boring, like a robin posing on the front lawn, or terrifying (killer bees, tornadoes, the mysterious cicada drone in my ears that began in this moment, staring each other down). I hate the grass and mosquitos— in the Midwest, it’s never polite to tell the truth, but I’m back East now, where niceties waste everyone’s time.  We’d just flown in and had lunch.  Liz took a photo.  I eventually looked away and finished the dishes.            Copyright © 2014 by Tony Trigilio. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   “My wife and I were back in Boston, housesitting for a friend.  This was the last place I expected to see a wandering deer—clustered among double-decker homes, just two blocks from the subway.  No visionary epiphanies, though.  The deer and I just stared at each other.” —Tony Trigilio   Tony Trigilio is the author of The Complete Dark Shadows (of My Childhood), Book 1 (BlazeVOX Books, 2014).  He teaches at Columbia College Chicago and lives in Chicago. Most Recent Book by Trigilio   The Complete Dark Shadows (of My Childhood), Book 1 (BlazeVOX Books, 2014) "Crossing" by Ravi Shankar "Never" by Chase Twichell "The Snow Leopard Mother" by Jennifer K. Sweeney Poem-a-Day   Launched during National Poetry Month in 2006, Poem-a-Day features new and previously unpublished poems by contemporary poets on weekdays and classic poems on weekends.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