Over years we lifted it sometimes
\nfrom its cardboard box, studying<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
the fifty teeth and gazing into the open
\neye sockets, this possum skull we found<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
in our sixth year, half-buried in the dirt
\nbehind the rental house. For decades, then,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
we moved it everywhere we went,
\nand always it lay quietly, as patient as dirt,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
and only now and then did I imagine it
\ndreaming that skin formed once more around<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
its body\u2014the moon face and moon tail\u2014
\nso it might waddle again along the river.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This poem was originally published in<\/em>\u00a0The Florida Review (43.2, Fall 2019) and was a runner-up in the Humboldt Poetry Prize.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over years we lifted it sometimes \/ from its cardboard box, studying…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":5728,"template":"","categories":[9,49,119],"tags":[889,98,1683,1684,201],"class_list":["post-5719","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquifer","category-literary-features","category-poetry","tag-aquifer","tag-doug-ramspeck","tag-environmental-poetry","tag-long-marriage","tag-poetry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n