That the cardinal reddens further for the grasses.
\nThat the trenches in dawnlight grow a little darker.
\nThat the day before my father\u2019s death<\/p>\n
was National Skinny Dipping Day, Filet
\nMignon Day, and Left Hander\u2019s Day. And the day
\nhe made his last, accidental utterance\u2014first a hush<\/p>\n
like the flame going out on a stove, then a rasp
\nand low vowel, as if he were a radio station we\u2019d lost
\nto static, winding through the mountains\u2014<\/p>\n
was National Creamsicle Day. So in the Somewhere
\nthe Breyer\u2019s Ice Cream factory calls home, the children
\nof Somewhere Elementary were sugared and giddy<\/p>\n
on the day the doctor warned me that when his toes
\nbegan to curl, or when his arms began to swell
\nand tighten like hoses in the sun, it meant the end.<\/p>\n
In a nearby field, the people of Lewiston, Maine
\nwere preparing for Hot Air Balloon Day, the nylon shapes
\nof cartoon heroes draped across the grasses,<\/p>\n
as if flattened by anvils and ready
\nto shake themselves back to life. All night,
\nlike television personalities in the lit squares of their windows,<\/p>\n
the children surveyed the field where the blue lights
\nof the burners puffed on and off. Come morning,
\nbefore the wind picked up, anachronistic and brave<\/p>\n
in his wicker basket, local weatherman Joe Cuomo
\nset out to prophecy the day, while in front of their TVs
\nthe children hoped to get a look at heaven,<\/p>\n
but instead got a weatherman
\nremarking on the elephantine weight of the clouds.
\nThis is how it goes: wonder, then loss,<\/p>\n
and then new wonder\u2014I knew my father
\nwould be trapped in the heavy husk
\nof his body, until someone cut the tethers<\/p>\n
of nutrient cocktail and somethingcillin\u2026 and so,
\na day early, I watched the first impatient balloon
\nlift off, and make the blue sky bluer by its redness.<\/p>\n
That the cardinal reddens further for the grasses. That the trenches in dawnlight grow a little darker. That the day before my father\u2019s death was National Skinny Dipping Day, Filet Mignon Day, and Left Hander\u2019s Day. And the day he made his last, accidental utterance\u2014first a hush like the flame going out on a stove, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[25],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6Jypy-4808","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4808"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10288,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4808\/revisions\/10288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp0.vanderbilt.edu\/nashvillereview\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}