The Hastily Assembled Angel at the Gate

Shane McCrae

The hastily assembled angel sitsBehind the gate and doesn’t watch the gateHe watches     the expressions on the fac-es of the archers posted on the gateBut only one     archer and only whenHe glances     at the archer next to himNervously the young     archer turns his headTo glance at the older archer middle-agedWho only looks ahead the     hastilyAssembled angel wonders who it wasWho said In the midst of life we are in deathHe has heard many songs and that was oneAlthough he has heard none of those songs sungOnly recited     quickly as he wasShoved off the cloud     more quickly than a humanMind could comprehend recited asTen thousand other things were shouted     all atOnce by ten thousand other angels allOf whom heard music he will never hearHe hears a     scream and he is back at the gateBehind the gate and     what had he been doingHe wonders     as he sees a young man fallingHe stands and folds his folding metal chair

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Shane McCrae’s most recent books are The Gilded Auction Block (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, fall 2018), and In the Language of My Captor (Wesleyan University Press, 2017), which was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has received a Lannan Literary Award, a Whiting Writer’s Award, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Pushcart Prize. He lives in New York City and teaches at Columbia University.

Michigan Quarterly Review

Spring 2018

Ann Arbor, Michigan

University of Michigan

Editor
Khaled Mattawa

Poetry Editor
Constanza Contreras

Managing Editor
H.R. Webster

Michigan Quarterly Review is an interdisciplinary and international literary journal, combining distinctive voices in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, as well as works in translation. Our work extends online as well, where we publish cultural commentary alongside reviews and interviews with writers, artists, and cultural figures around the world. The flagship literary journal of the University of Michigan, our magazine embraces creative urgency and cultural relevance, aiming to challenge conventions and address long-overdue conversations. As we continue to promote an expansive and inclusive vision, we seek work from established and emerging writers with diverse aesthetics and experiences.

Twice a year, we curate an array of perspectives on a single theme. Past special issues have included writing on the Flint Water Crisis, the Great Lakes, Greece, China, and Caregiving.

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