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Like silent naked monks huddled

around an old tree stump, having

spun themselves in the night

out of thought and nothingness—

And God so pleased with their silence

He grants them teeth and tongues.

Like us.

How long have you been gone?

A child’s hot tears on my bare arms.

Source: Poetry (April 2011).

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MORE FROM THIS ISSUE

This poem originally appeared in the April 2011 issue of Poetry magazine

• First Storm and Thereafter
  by Scott Cairns
• Ovid in America
  by Averill Curdy
• It’s That Time
  by W. S. Di Piero

• April 2011 Table of Contents
• Subscribe to Poetry magazine
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More about this poem

Biography

Poet and novelist Laura Kasischke was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and teaches in the MFA program at the University of Michigan. Her books of poetry include Wild Brides (1992), Fire and Flower (1998), Dance and Disappear (2002), Gardening in the Dark (2004), Lilies Without (2007), and Space, in Chains (2011), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award. Kasischke has won numerous awards for her poetry, including the . . .

Continue reading this biography

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Poems by Laura Kasischke

• After Ken Burns
• Ativan
• Game
• Hospital parking lot, April
• In this order

• More poems by Laura Kasischke (8 poems)
  • Rondeau
  • The Second Death
  • You’ve Come Back to Me

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Poem Categorization

SUBJECT Love, Heartache & Loss, Nature, Trees & Flowers

Poetic Terms Free Verse

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Audio

• The Poetry Magazine Podcast: "Accident Plays a Part in Art"
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Articles

• Fortune-tellers and Pharmacists by Brian Phillips
• Live All You Can by Michael Robbins
• Six Books by Joel Brouwer

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