Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THREE BALLS by CARL SANDBURG

Poet Analysis

First Line: JABOWSKY'S PLACE IS ON A SIDE STREET AND ONLY THE RAIN WASHES
Last Line: PLACE ON A SIDE STREET.
Subject(s): PAWNSHOPS; PAWNBROKERS;

JABOWSKY'S place is on a side street and only the rain washes the
dusty three balls.
When I passed the window a month ago, there rested in proud isolation:
A family bible with hasps of brass twisted off, a wooden clock with
pendulum gone,
And a porcelain crucifix with the glaze nicked where the left elbow of
Jesus is represented.
I passed to-day and they were all there, resting in proud isolation,
the clock and the crucifix saying no more and no less than before, and
a yellow cat sleeping in a patch of sun alongside the family bible
with the hasps off.
Only the rain washes the dusty three balls in front of Jabowsky's
place on a side street.




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