Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: W. LLOYD GARRISON STANDARD, by EDGAR LEE MASTERS


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SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: W. LLOYD GARRISON STANDARD, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Vegetarian, non-resistant, free-thinker, in ethics a christian
Last Line: Barren and formless, spoiled at last by the storm.


VEGETARIAN, non-resistant, free-thinker, in ethics a
Christian;
Orator apt at the rhine-stone rhythm of Ingersoll;
Carnivorous, avenger, believer and pagan;
Continent, promiscuous, changeable, treacherous, vain,
Proud, with the pride that makes struggle a thing for laughter;
With heart cored out by the worm of theatric despair;
Wearing the coat of indifference to hide the shame of defeat;
I, child of the abolitionist idealism --
A sort of Brand in a birth of half-and-half.
What other thing could happen when I defended
The patriot scamps who burned the court house,
That Spoon River might have a new one,
Than plead them guilty? When Kinsey Keene drove through
The card-board mask of my life with a spear of light,
What could I do but slink away, like the beast of myself
Which I raised from a whelp, to a corner and growl.
The pyramid of my life was nought but a dune,
Barren and formless, spoiled at last by the storm.





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