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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
REAR-PORCHES OF AN APARTMENT-BUILDING, by MAXWELL BODENHEIM Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: A sky that has never known sun, moon or stars Last Line: On brick walls. Subject(s): Cities; Poverty; Urban Life | |||
A sky that has never known sun, moon or stars, A sky that is like a dead kind face, Would have the color of your eyes, O servant girl, singing of pear trees in the sun, And scraping the yellow fruit you once picked When your lavender-white eyes were alive. On the porch above you are two women, Whose faces have the color of brown earth that has never felt rain. The still wet basins of ponds that have been drained Are their eyes. They knit gray rosettes and nibble cakes. And on the top porch are three children Gravely kissing each other's foreheads, And an ample nurse with a huge red fan. The passing of the afternoon to them Is but the lengthening of blue-black shadows on brick walls. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THINGS (FOR AN INDIAN) TO DO IN NEW YORK (CITY) by SHERMAN ALEXIE THE CITY REVISITED by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET TEN OXHERDING PICTURES: ENTERING THE CITY WITH BLISS-BESTOWING HANDS by LUCILLE CLIFTON THE CITY OF THE OLESHA FRUIT by NORMAN DUBIE DISCOVERING THE PHOTOGRAPH OF LLOYD, EARL, AND PRISCILLA by LYNN EMANUEL MY DIAMOND STUD by ALICE FULTON DEATH (1) by MAXWELL BODENHEIM |
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