Shane McCrae

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In the House from Which I Was Kidnapped 

The pale blinds rise and fall, a gif forever
The blinds move     on their own.     At first my father
Stands with the string between his fingers, first
And middle, pulling, even     after it tears
Into his fingers, tears the first and mid-
dle skin,     him pulling, letting go, his blood
Staining the length of the looped string near-
est him.     He pulls the string for years

Eventually he backs     away from the window
Into the room.     He doesn’t turn.     Now
He watches from a shadow in the room
For a small child to be returned to him
I see him watching from     deeper in the shadow
Whenever I look     into his eyes.     The shadow grows the way a child grows

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SHANE MCCRAE’s most recent books are Sometimes I Never Suffered, shortlisted for the T. S. Eliot Prize and the Rilke Prize, and The Gilded Auction Block, both published by Corsair. He lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.