Stance

Illustration by Liz Hart / The Atlantic. Source: Getty.Explore the September 2026 IssueCheck out more from this issue and find your next story to read.View MoreSummer he was 9 going on 10, suddenly he had one: chin tucked into the leading shoulder, the body at once lifted high and crouched; something in the thighs was attached to the ground yet there was an upward determination in the elbow—a boy could be pulled skyward and earthward at once, could be, like the bat, expectant, not quite still, quivering with intent to circle and strike a note; his hands fused to the wood and wrists braced as though screwing tight or about to unscrew the lid of a jar (love in the wrists was part of the stance)and when the swing broke and the ball whistled long and everyone was moving, calling—the throw’s to second— I wanted to study the stance again in that suspended life before a play happens, before memory carried it away.This poem appears in the September 2026 print edition.