“The Assumption of the Virgin,” by Beverley Bie Brahic (Poetry ’06)

2006 poetry alum Beverley Bie Brahic was recently featured in The New Criterion. Read an excerpt of Brahic’s poem “The Assumption of the Virgin” below:

The Assumption of the Virgin

August 15th. We’re a ghost town—just us
And the standoffish widow,
Her jangly terrier and vintage Peugeot.

Haven’t seen them street-side in—how long now?
But at bedtime
I see her television screen flicker

And these sultry nights with windows
Open to whatever is out there
Watching with us, and the neighborhood

Quiet as a grave, I can hear the sound—
A dialogue,
One voice quavers, the other threatens.

Read this poem in its entirety here: https://newcriterion.com/issues/2021/9/the-assumption-of-the-virgin