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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CONTRA MORTEM: THE CHILD'S BEING, by HAYDEN CARRUTH Poet's Biography
First Line: Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
Last Line: A being freeborn and intricate like the day
Subject(s): Children; Youth; Childhood
First Line: Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
Last Line: A being freeborn and intricate like the day
Subject(s): Children; Youth; Childhood
Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
everyone but him When an insistent finger
stabs him with a you he only stares
uncomprehendingly a stranger
to the pronominal itch and then pointing anywhere
to the tree the cloud the flower distant or near
expostulates in manic delight
me me me a spendthrift spate
of consciousness And thus the child puts on
his being as the dark world
in its necessity puts on the dawn
by turning toward it The child
trembling in halflight giving himself away
becomes sun's favor the choice of what is not willed
a being freeborn and intricate like the day.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
Other Poems of Interest...
THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN
CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL
COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL
THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL
A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL
CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS
ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE
THE POET AT SEVEN by DONALD JUSTICE
I'VE NEVER SEEN SUCH A REAL HARD TIME BEFORE' by HAYDEN CARRUTH