Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SURFACES AND MASKS; 8 by CLARENCE MAJOR

Poet Analysis

First Line: AND AS THE MEMORY OF EACH / HARD MELODRAMATIC WORD
and as the memory of each
hard melodramatic word
laced my mind
I heard (thoughts
of Shelley's Ocean's nursling
plus)
the language pitch
of this
"woebegone population";

in other words, was this still
such a place? of "blearness
of scrofulous children"?
in a landscape of draggle-tailed
pregnant women?
I didn't think so.
A different enchantment
now held.


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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