Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THREES, by CARL SANDBURG Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: I was a boy when I heard three red words Last Line: Ham and eggs -- how much? -- and -- do you love me, kid? Subject(s): Language; Words; Vocabulary | ||||||||
I was a boy when I heard three red words a thousand Frenchmen died in the streets for: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity -- I asked why men die for words. I was older; men with mustaches, sideburns, lilacs, told me the high golden words are: Mother, Home, and Heaven -- other older men with face decorations said: God, Duty, Immortality -- they sang these threes slow from deep lungs. Years ticked off their say-so on the great clocks of doom and damnation, soup and nuts: meteors flashed their say-so: and out of great Russia came three dusky syllables workmen took guns and went out to die for: Bread, Peace, Land. And I met a marine of the U.S.A., a leatherneck with a girl on his for a memory in ports circling the earth and he said: Tell me how to say three things and I always get by -- gimme a plate of ham and eggs -- how much? -- and -- do you love me, kid? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HOWYOUBEENS' by TERRANCE HAYES MY LIFE: REASON LOOKS FOR TWO, THEN ARRANGES IT FROM THERE by LYN HEJINIAN THE FATALIST: THE BEST WORDS by LYN HEJINIAN WRITING IS AN AID TO MEMORY: 17 by LYN HEJINIAN CANADA IN ENGLISH by JUAN FELIPE HERRERA THERE IS NO WORD by TONY HOAGLAND CONSIDERED SPEECH by JOHN HOLLANDER |
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