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Column 783

Proximity

Intro by Ted Kooser
03.22.2020

Karen Head lives in Geor­gia, and pos­sums seem to live every­where. You may dri­ve past a dead one on a road­side some­where today. Here’s a poem in which the poet choos­es to keep a safe dis­tance from wild­ness. Head­’s most recent book is Lost on Pur­pose, pub­lished by Iris Press in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. 

Proximity

The young possum foraging
outside my office window
seems unconcerned by my presence—
after all, I'm the one who's trapped.
I snack on almonds, watch
it nibble whatever it can find,
and though I am inclined to share,
I know that opening the window
will change the world.

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Disclaimer

We do not accept unsolicited submissions

We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2019 by Karen Head, "Proximity," from Lost on Purpose, (Iris Press, 2019). Poem reprinted by permission of Karen Head and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.