Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, CONTRA MORTEM: THE MOUNTAIN FASTNESS, by HAYDEN CARRUTH


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

CONTRA MORTEM: THE MOUNTAIN FASTNESS, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Beyond and farther and yet from every vantage
Last Line: The ever and never known the pivot the horizon
Subject(s): Mountains; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


Beyond and farther and yet from every vantage
rising eternally near crag above crag
this is the upthrust A tossed village
lies like a trampled flag
at its feet and up there look the ridge
sloughs off the stunted firs like the very selvedge
of earth itself raveled and frayed
where the ground peels back Call it the void
pulled inside out or the universal grain
in a mindless exultation
sprung from the notgrain Its climbers learn
footholds too far apart and their own impatience
and death in the dark drops Call it a comprising
call it the center and edge of every relation
the journeyer's pivot and the journeyer's horizon.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net