Literature Network » Willa Cather

Poem for Leah

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From: Juniata Voices
Date: 20050101
Author:Troy, Jack

"The artist loves the things that haunt him." Willa Cather

What wakes me at 2:30, after four hours' sleep?

Not a sound, but this jagged image, like an infection,

the one Leah gave me in class,

not from touching, but from telling.

What she'd touched was clay, cream-cheese white,

and made a life-size face, ghastly-goofy, tongue

parting lips, an index finger thrust

into an eye. And lacerations, as if

from shrapnel sunk out of sight.

Is it a he? Is it a she? Is it an Iraqi?

Or your older sister's prom date off to war?

Mostly, it's the week's emotional paycheck

I get for teaching art, the wake-up,

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