Poetry in Motion

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Variations on the Word Sleep (an excerpt)

Margaret Atwood

A horizontal poster with a colorful mosaic at the top features an excerpt from the poem, Variations on the Word Sleep, by Margaret Atwood. Behind the poem is a purple night sky and to the left is a woman shown from the neck up. Her eyes are closed and her chin is tilted up.

Variations on the World Sleep (an excerpt)

I would like to be the air
that inhabits you for a moment
only. I would like to be that unnoticed
& that necessary.

From Selected Poems II: 1976-1986 by Margaret Atwood. Copyright © 1987 by Margaret Atwood. Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin.

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