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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
IN ABSENCE OF THE TREE, by CLARENCE MAJOR Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Sure, there is a hierarchy
First Line: Sure, there is a hierarchy
Sure, there is a hierarchy
of worlds here, one place
is above or below another.
Cap Roux is up the coast
beyond, say, Beaulieu
and below Eze.
Angels with dog-faces float
in chariots, spinning
through clouds on golden wheels.
You're not likely
to find the divine world up there.
Those carriages are on their way
to that place where earth
meets the world of action.
I cannot consult Ezekiel.
I'm confined to the speedway
along the blue coast.
Even if Jacob's ladder is dropped
it will not work. I am mineral,
molecular. Cells. Though I try
I excel at none of those systems.
So read Rimbaud to me.
Decorate my house with Baudelaire's
dead flowers. Roll me
in the sand at Monte Carlo.
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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