An open access publication of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
Summer 2025

How Pants

Author
Anne Carson
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Anne Carson, a Member of the American Academy since 1999, is a poet, essayist, classicist, translator, and educator. She has taught classics at several universities, including Calgary, Princeton, Emory, McGill, UC Berkeley, Michigan, and NYU. Among her many books of poetry and essays are Eros the Bittersweet (1986), Men in the Off Hours (2000), Nox (2010), and, most recently, Wrong Norma (2024).

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all kinds of pants went by
all kinds of pants went by
all kinds of pants went by
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all kinds of pants went by
all kinds of pants went by
all kinds of pants went by
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trousers, too
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all kinds of pants went by

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all kinds of pants went by
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all kinds of pants went by
yet the birches linger