Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE WRECK OF THE CIRCUS TRAIN, by HAYDEN CARRUTH


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WRECK OF THE CIRCUS TRAIN, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Couplings buckled, cracked, collapsed
Last Line: Turned and swung off toward the hills
Subject(s): Circus; Disasters; Railroad Wrecks; Train Wrecks


Couplings buckled, cracked, collapsed,
And all reared, wheels and steel
Pawing and leaping above the plain,

And fell down totally, a crash
Deep in the rising surf of dust,
As temples into their cellars crash.

Dust flattened across the silence
That follows the end of anything,
Drifted into cracks of wreckage.

But motion remained, a girder
Found gravity and shifted, a wheel
Turned lazily, turning, turning,

And life remained, at work to
Detain spirit: three lions, one
Male with wide masculine mane,

Two female, short, strong, emerged
And looked quickly over the ruin,
Turned and moved toward the hills.


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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