2013 Pushcart prize XXXVII : best of the small presses by Unknown

Author:Unknown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: American literature -- 21st century, American poetry -- 21st century, Small presses -- United States, American literature, American poetry, Small presses, American literature -- Collections, American literature -- History and criticism, United States
ISBN: 9781888889666
Publisher: Wainscott, NY : Pushcart ; New York : Distributed by W.W. Norton
Published: 2013-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

LANTERN

by TED KOOSER

from THE KENYON REVIEW

In the predawn cold and darkness, it was only a pinch of light, not more than a cup of warmth, as a fanner earned it over the snow to the bam where his dozen cows stood stomping, heavy with milk in the milky cloud of their lowing.

But that was many years ago, and his lantern has rusted, its last fumes lost on the seasons like the breath of those cows.

But at the last he thought to leave a fresh ribbon of wick coiled up in the chimney in case it was ever needed again, a dollars worth of preparation. And, getting prepared for a later winter, a pregnant mouse was able to squeeze through a vent and unravel that wick and make a cottony nest with dusty panoramic windows, and there to raise her bald and mewling pissy brood, and then for them to disappear, the way we all, one day, move on, leaving a little, sharp whiff of ourselves in the dirty bedding.

Nominated by Joan Murray

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