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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
NURSING HOME: THE VISIT, by KAREN SWENSON Poet's Biography First Line: The wild-animal fear is upon him Last Line: His hair through the cage. Subject(s): Grandchildren; Grandparents; Nursing Homes; Grandsons; Granddaughters; Grandmothers; Grandfathers; Great Grandfathers; Great Grandmothers; Old Age Homes; Assisted Living | |||
The wild-animal fear is upon him. Still young enough to smell death and the cripple, he does not want to come in here where she lies in her crib. But he does - guarded by the lives of grandmother and mother, eyes strafing the room for comfort. Her witch-aged face turns. The tendon-raw hands reach through the bars. Time is a membrane between their touch. "My baby, my baby boy," she says, pulling him into her parenthesis of steel. "You must not call him a baby," we reprimand. His voice is torn linen; "She can call me anything." Could he be the face? She laughs at us and kisses his hair through the cage. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OLD PEOPLE ON THE NURSING HOME PORCH by MARK STRAND NURSING HOME: THE CANARY by KAREN SWENSON NURSING HOME: THE DOLL by KAREN SWENSON OLD FOLK'S HOME, JERUSALEM by RITA DOVE THE GOLD STAR by ALBERT GOLDBARTH THANKS TO SIR WALTER by CHARLES WILLIAM BRODRIBB OLD LADIES' HOME by SYLVIA PLATH THE SUBWAY ENTRANCE by MINNIE BRUCE PRATT MENTAL CASES by LLOYD SCHWARTZ |
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