Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE LEAVES FIRST, by CARL PHILLIPS Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Before this crown Subject(s): Love - Erotic | ||||||||
Before this crown. Comes our history whose beginning is animal, as old as, they meet, they fuck, something else binds them, Let us not call it. The man's mouth on mine, my mouth on the woman, and inside her, you, inside me, inside. Always- Capitaine? The woman first, and what to call what it was bound us. Let's not. The ruin first. The translation of one sister, of another the extended suicide-Yes, but in what order, before or after the mother failing as she has to. Forgive. The mother's mouth on the relative stranger's. As we forgive his on the woman-the mother-, and inside her. The father first, both the translation and the extended leave of him. Come the gifts, what else binds him, a boat of tortoise shell, a watch- Yes, but in what order, before, after the green compass, green as the grass that -- as it has to -- it gets lost in, no wonder I can't find it. The loss first. Before the double blow, not the father, but wind he says he commands also, even absent -- the being struck once for losing a thing given, once for crying, now it's gone. Before the compass. Before this crown. The gift first, only, so small in the child's hand that was small, blameless, already bound. Copyright © Carl Phillips | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HUNGERFIELD by ROBINSON JEFFERS ULYSSES: MOLLY BLOOM'S CLOSING SOLILOQUY by JAMES JOYCE THE EROTIC PHILOSOPHERS by KIZER. CAROLYN SLEEPING WITH WOMEN by KENNETH KOCH |
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