Laura Kasischke Near Misses Summary

The poem Near Misses by Laura Kasischke is about how she realizes she has no control over whether she lives or dies and is grateful to be alive. The poem starts with all the times she nearly missed death. These stanzas are very literal, except for the line “something spinning and made of history” in the third stanza. This resembles the later parts of this poem. After the stanzas explaining the times she nearly missed death, the poem changes slightly. It is a lot less literal, using much more imagery, metaphors, and personification. This part of the poem also states that she is a “middle-aged woman scanning the cans on the grocery store shelf.” This stanza is primarily focused on the present. The last stanza however, focuses more on the future
and on he death, “the cells, ticking away.” The poem shifts from the past to the present to the future. It also changes from literal to more metaphorical. The last few stanzas use the metaphors to tell the meaning of the poem. She says, “It’s a miracle, I tell you, this middle-aged woman scanning the cans on the grocery store shelf.” This represent that she is grateful to be alive, and realizes how lucky she is after her near misses. Finally, this stanza also states “Hidden in the works of a mysterious clock are her many deaths… The timer, broken.” This is saying that she has no way to tell when her life will end, death is very mysterious.