Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, EAST SIDE MOVING PICTURE THEATRE - SUNDAY, by MAXWELL BODENHEIM


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

EAST SIDE MOVING PICTURE THEATRE - SUNDAY, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: An old woman rubs her eyes
Last Line: Were standing before their last heaven.
Subject(s): Heaven; Lower East Side, New York City; Motion Pictures; Prayer; Sabbath; Paradise; Movies; Cinema; Sunday


An old woman rubs her eyes
As though she were stroking children back to life.
A slender Jewish boy whose forehead
Is tall, and like a wind-marked wall,
Restlessly waits while leaping prayers
Clash their light-cymbals within his eyes.
And a little hunchbacked girl
Straightens her back with a slow-pulling smile.
(I am afraid to look at her again.)

Then the blurred, tawdry pictures rush across the scene,
And I hear a swishing intake of breath,
As though some band of shy rigid spirits
Were standing before their last heaven.





Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net