Immolation
The twentieth poet laureate of the United States, William Stafford, held that position from 1970 to 1971. Twenty years earlier, his poem “Immolation” had been published in the Winter 1950 edition of Prairie Schooner. The first snowfall in Lincoln that year occurred on November 8th and culminated in a total of 19.9 inches of snow for the season; the average winter temperature was a moderately balmy 25.8°F.
by Tory Clower
Immolation
William Stafford
The murder was accomplished
cleanly.
Quietly the morning-glory eyes
were lidded.
Weakly, with suffocation,
the bird-answering voice gave up the ghost.
Two curls by warm temples
were witnesses of the slow strangulation.
Innumerable drinkers of tea nodded with
tea-drinking
Enthusiasm at the impeccable
assassination of the years.
The dismayed daughter—
frightenedly smiling—
Left yesterday
for a conservative graduate school
With
her mother.