Abigail Thomas

Word Count 125

Once it was the Great God Pan, whose presence felt

in woods and pastures would strike a mortal being with terror,

and awe, as the God deserved. A fitting place for panic.

These days panic shows up in the living room, or the back yard,

or the grocery store, or the short walk across grass

to where your daughter sleeps. And sleeps. When you can barely see

her shape under the blankets, and you pull them off, to find no

expression on her beautiful face, and no matter how hard

you look, or scream, or pull at her arms, her chest neither rises

nor falls. Empty bottles of pills on the floor. You are still

screaming when 911 shoos you out the door.

Abigail has four children, twelve grandchildren, one great-grandchild, two dogs, and a high school education. Her books include Safekeeping; A Three Dog Life; and What Comes Next and How to Like It. Her new book, Still Life At Eighty, is out now on The Golden Notebook Press. She lives in Woodstock, NY.