Christina Davis’s ‘Vigil Strange’

From the LARB Quarterly no 49: ‘Traffic,’ a new poem by Christina Davis, dedicated to John H. Davis (1938–2006).

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This poem is a preview of the LARB Quarterly, no. 49: TrafficBecome a member for more fiction, essays, criticism, poetry, and art from this issue—plus the next four issues of the Quarterly in print.


¤


Vigil Strange



When you died, I lifted your right eyelid, when no one saw.




The irrevocable

Openness—




as though a road headed toward me had ended in me,




demolishing the maze

of estrangements …







They have come home, again!

(Who has?) The infinite …


¤


Featured image: Richard P. Baker. Model of a Riemann Surface, Baker #411z, ca. 1930. Gift of Frances E. Baker, Smithsonian National Museum of American History (MA.211257.074). CC0, americanhistory.si.edu. Accessed August 4, 2026. Image has been cropped.

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