"Living" and Dying

Jason Shinder's poem in the October 1 issue of the New Yorker is entitled "Living." In reality, Shinder is using juxtaposition between the poem's title and its subject matter in order to give his reader a stronger sense of the condition that his mother is in. The reader sees her when she is alive, but barely. Every description Shinder gives of her is filled with an overwhelming sense of fragility. While using words and phrases like "hard yellow skin" and "broken nails," the reader gets the clear sense that the woman about whom they are reading is very close to death indeed. In fact, had Shinder written the poem a few days later, he probably would have had to change the title.