Hazen-Hammond, Susan

English

SWOSU Digital Commons (Southwestern Oklahoma State University)

Volume 26Issue 1 Spring/Summer Article 276-15-2007Still Life with AntSusan Hazen-HammondFollow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westviewPart of the Fiction Commons, Nonfiction Commons, Photography Commons, and the PoetryCommonsThis Poetry is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals atSWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Westviewby an authorized administrator of SWOSU Digital Commons. For moreinformation, please contact phillip.fitzsimmons@swosu.edu.Recommended CitationHazen-Hammond, Susan (2007) "Still Life with Ant," Westview: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 27.Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/westview/vol26/iss1/27Still Life with Antby Susan Hazen-HammondThe ant on the table walks across the paper I wrote the fifth doctor’s opinion on.It weaves through the petals of the rose, climbs the crabapple, circles peach and pine cone.The rose has no scent, the peach no fuzz.They are beasts in angel costume, roaring through my years with me on a leash behind them.Could crabapples be chokecherries in drag?Did the wind twist these cones off the pine my great grandmother planted in 1904 and fling them 30 states, 100 years, to me?Once upon a time,people lived happily ever after.Once upon a time, I thought I would live happily, if not ever after.If I had known how, I would have dreamed of fresh roses in a vase each morning, and planting my own pine.I would have dreamed of morethan straining crabapple jellyand stirring chokecherry jam,but my world was as small as the paperthat gives edges to this still life.Why did I work as blindly as the ant that is struggling to tear my still life apart?When did roses lose their fragrance?When did peaches drop their fuzz?Still life, life still.How long still do I have with this life?42 W E S T V I E WI have grown as unselfed as the peach and the rose.There is pitch on my hands.There is pitch on my heart.The ant falls off the edge of its world and finds death in the sole of a giant.Photo (detal) by Joel KendallW E S T V I E W  m 43

Still Life with Ant

https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1760&context=westview

Still Life with Ant

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