Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, STATION (5), by JAMES GALVIN


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STATION (5), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Somewhere between a bird's nest and a solar system
Last Line: Washing less than nothing from your hands
Subject(s): Annunciation, The; Birds; Jesus Christ


Somewhere between a bird's nest and a solar system -- whom did the story use to
fashion the crown of thorns, and did it prick them?
Whom did the story use for judgement?
Whom for betrayal?

The slender filament of drool from too much Quaalude tethered her chin to her
shoulder.
When I came back she was sitting on the couch, her
hands turned up, her face turned away and down.

Every Annunciation is freaked with doom, flashed in crucifixion.

Because I left home she was allowed to keep pushing her face through the
windshields of collapsing automobiles, as if she wanted to be born from a
speeding car.
All according to plan, following the story
in telling it.
Pilate no more judges Christ than he judges the
air he breathes.
He is nothing.
He washes his hands according to
plan, another symbol.
It would be like judging a cloud
formation, the Grand Canyon, or an ant.
Like washing less than
nothing from your hands.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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