{"id":101670,"date":"2016-08-18T17:32:52","date_gmt":"2016-08-18T21:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=101670"},"modified":"2016-08-19T09:48:09","modified_gmt":"2016-08-19T13:48:09","slug":"first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/","title":{"rendered":"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Redtail_Hawk\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Judy Longley\u2019s poem \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d appeared in our Summer 1998 issue<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em>Her collection\u00a0<\/em>My Journey Toward You<\/a>\u00a0was the 1993 winner of the Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry<\/em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Had I glanced from buttering my toast
a moment before, would my heart<\/p>\n

have been riven by the fierce thrust
of beak and claw? Great wings<\/p>\n

shadowing the window like fate,
my parakeet trills, swinging<\/p>\n

in its cage like bait until a thump
thunders the pane. I look up<\/p>\n

into a drizzle of feathers, the hawk
dying on the ground below, wings<\/p>\n

unfurled against the snow in a swoop
that seemed a sure thing.<\/p>\n

Some call it grace, our innocent
preoccupation in the face of death.<\/p>\n

How serene I felt my last day of work.
One hand sheltering the fox<\/p>\n

that gnawed at my belly, I gazed
past my patient\u2019s glassy calm<\/p>\n

for the ruffle and stir of her pain.
Next day, spread on the operating table,<\/p>\n

arms bound to winglike extensions,
anesthesia hurled me toward the sun.<\/p>\n

A knife sinks into butter, caged
creatures sing for their supper.<\/p>\n

How bold we are, flying full tilt
into nothing we can see, how we persist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Judy Longley\u2019s poem \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d appeared in our Summer 1998 issue.\u00a0Her collection\u00a0My Journey Toward You\u00a0was the 1993 winner of the Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":915,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1188],"tags":[24010,7393,24014,2186,12582,24011,19907,24009,20597,24013,24016,24017,973,165,692,10919,24012,24015,6324],"class_list":["post-101670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-from-the-archive","tag-appendectomy","tag-birds","tag-butter","tag-death","tag-doctors","tag-emergency","tag-from-the-archive","tag-hawks","tag-judy-longley","tag-knife","tag-marianne-moore-prize-for-poetry","tag-my-journey-toward-you","tag-pain","tag-poetry","tag-sun","tag-surgery","tag-surgical","tag-window","tag-wings"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPoem: \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A poem by Judy Longley from our archive.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy by Judy Longley\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"August 18, 2016 \u2013 Judy Longley\u2019s poem \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d appeared in our Summer 1998 issue.\u00a0Her collection\u00a0My Journey Toward\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"768\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Judy Longley\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Judy Longley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Judy Longley\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5de795201b914dd3c74786b2f1242d43\"},\"headline\":\"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\"},\"wordCount\":197,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"appendectomy\",\"birds\",\"butter\",\"death\",\"doctors\",\"emergency\",\"from the archive\",\"hawks\",\"Judy Longley\",\"knife\",\"Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry\",\"My Journey Toward You\",\"pain\",\"poetry\",\"sun\",\"surgery\",\"surgical\",\"window\",\"Wings\"],\"articleSection\":[\"From the Archive\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\",\"name\":\"Poem: \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00\",\"description\":\"A poem by Judy Longley from our archive.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"description\":\"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The Paris Review\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png\",\"width\":696,\"height\":696,\"caption\":\"The Paris Review\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5de795201b914dd3c74786b2f1242d43\",\"name\":\"Judy Longley\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48be7ecb8b98d3f6f3b1a71bf12a8b5ed4ee871164b5142c6514de939761b5a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48be7ecb8b98d3f6f3b1a71bf12a8b5ed4ee871164b5142c6514de939761b5a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Judy Longley\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jlongley\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Poem: \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d","description":"A poem by Judy Longley from our archive.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy by Judy Longley","og_description":"August 18, 2016 \u2013 Judy Longley\u2019s poem \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d appeared in our Summer 1998 issue.\u00a0Her collection\u00a0My Journey Toward","og_url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/","og_site_name":"The Paris Review","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","article_published_time":"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":768,"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Judy Longley","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@parisreview","twitter_site":"@parisreview","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Judy Longley","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/"},"author":{"name":"Judy Longley","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5de795201b914dd3c74786b2f1242d43"},"headline":"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy","datePublished":"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/"},"wordCount":197,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg","keywords":["appendectomy","birds","butter","death","doctors","emergency","from the archive","hawks","Judy Longley","knife","Marianne Moore Prize for Poetry","My Journey Toward You","pain","poetry","sun","surgery","surgical","window","Wings"],"articleSection":["From the Archive"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/","name":"Poem: \u201cFirst Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg","datePublished":"2016-08-18T21:32:52+00:00","dateModified":"2016-08-19T13:48:09+00:00","description":"A poem by Judy Longley from our archive.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/redtail_hawk.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2016\/08\/18\/first-breakfast-at-home-following-an-emergency-appendectomy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"First Breakfast at Home Following an Emergency Appendectomy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","name":"The Paris Review","description":"The best prose, interviews, poetry, and art. Since 1953.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization","name":"The Paris Review","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-square.png","width":696,"height":696,"caption":"The Paris Review"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/","https:\/\/x.com\/parisreview","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/parisreview"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5de795201b914dd3c74786b2f1242d43","name":"Judy Longley","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48be7ecb8b98d3f6f3b1a71bf12a8b5ed4ee871164b5142c6514de939761b5a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/48be7ecb8b98d3f6f3b1a71bf12a8b5ed4ee871164b5142c6514de939761b5a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Judy Longley"},"url":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/author\/jlongley\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101670"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":101677,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101670\/revisions\/101677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}