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Poems

September 2002

Waking

by Adam Kirsch


Waking, he finds his arm
Still sore from having pressed
Her unresisting form
Tightly below the breast.


(Something said in a dream
Unconscious made him fear
She would not stay the same
For long, or lie so near.)


As though he could seize the breaths
Escaping her one by one!
Instinct clings to the sheath
Of the flame already gone.


Adam Kirschs most recent book is Invasions: Poems (Ivan R
more from this author


This article originally appeared in The New Criterion, Volume 21 September 2002, on page 45
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