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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ARRIVING UNINVITED, by CLARENCE MAJOR Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Without the red splashed through the yellow
First Line: Without the red splashed through the yellow
Without the red splashed through the yellow,
in this ancient holy city, like an oil spill in the river,
the gray of the praying buildings would have
no purpose. The gold-yellow itself is not
a divine cluster of leaves. They are blessed
and scattered across some private
walled-in postage stamp of holy ground
of grass, alas, and no it's more than that.
You don't walk on this hallowed ground.
You don't pray on it.
This is the bed of the sea where you see
silver one minute and gold the next --
church colors gold and silver, any way
you look at them. The fine network of summer
is ending. The snow-blue sky now
this moment is holier than this city.
We are here but we remain as unknown
to this city as its lovers' true motives,
as unknowable as each pirate
or deposed monarch
wearing a blessed monocle,
strutting the narrow streets.
Arriving uninvited is risky.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
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