|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI: 1. EMBARKATION, by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER Poet's Biography
First Line: Dull masses of dense green
Last Line: Above the pink explosion of the calyx of the dawn.
Subject(s): Mississippi River; Rivers
First Line: Dull masses of dense green
Last Line: Above the pink explosion of the calyx of the dawn.
Subject(s): Mississippi River; Rivers
Dull masses of dense green,
The forests range their sombre platforms;
Between them silently, like spirit,
The river finds its own mysterious path.
Loosely the river sways out, backward, forward,
Always fretting the outer side;
Shunning the invisible focus of each crescent,
Seeking to spread into shining loops over fields.
Like an enormous serpent, dilating, uncoiling,
Displaying a broad scaly back of earth-smeared gold;
Swaying out sinuously between the dull motionless forests,
As molten metal might glide down the lip of a vase of dark bronze;
It goes, while the steamboat drifting out upon it,
Seems now to be floating not only outwards but upwards;
In the flight of a petal detached and gradually moving skyward
Above the pink explosion of the calyx of the dawn.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL
TO A WOMAN GLANCING UP FROM THE RIVER by LARRY LEVIS
TWO-RIVER LEDGER by KHALED MATTAWA
HE FINDS THE MANSION by JAMES MCMICHAEL
THE RIVERS by CLARIBEL ALEGRIA
VERMILION FLYCATCHER, SAN PEDRO RIVER, ARIZONA by MARGARET ATWOOD
THE PORCH OVER THE RIVER by WENDELL BERRY
THE RIVER BRIDGED AND FORGOT by WENDELL BERRY
ARIZONA POEMS: 2. MEXICAN QUARTER by JOHN GOULD FLETCHER