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


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CONTRA MORTEM: THE VILLAGE, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Twilight drivels down the mountain. There below
Last Line: In the hostel its eyes too dead for pity
Subject(s): Animals; Extinct Animals


Twilight drivels down the mountain There below
in slowly gathering shadow the lights come on
lighted windows vague and yellow
and very old The town
is flecked with light except in the deep hollow
where the graves sink down Hallowed and narrow
the steeple rises under a copper fish
swimming in final roselight The dutch
elm bettle carries his little burden from tree
to tree Somewhere a dog
barks petulantly across a steel guitar
Ah it is all extraordinarily nostalgic
as people find who come from the city

to fret beneath the police magistrate's famour hatrack
that was the last caribou and now is a pity.


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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