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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
SARA, by JAMES GALVIN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Sara stays at home. / her looks are plain Last Line: A white cloth against the glass Subject(s): Beauty; Grief; Insanity; Paintings & Painters; Suicide; Voices; Sorrow; Sadness; Madness; Mental Illness | |||
Sara stays at home. Her looks are plain. She paints somber landscapes with sleeping horses. She hears voices. She's going to stop living later this afternoon. Now she's painting the uncut hay waiting in the meadow, that her father and brothers used to mow when they were alive. Sara knows from observation how it is with trees -- without a forest they can't go on. Her mother tells Sara not to paint so sad. Look, she says, standing at the bay window, cleaning the glass with a white cloth, It's beautiful, not sad! The walls of the house are covered with Sara's landscapes. It's like not having any walls. The sun is hot on the brim of her straw hat, and the valley can't imagine itself without her. She paints the hay barn, leaning a little, the snowfence, also leaning, the pines behind the house and barn a sadder green than pine trees are. The house, from the outside, is plain. Sara paints her mother standing at the window, a white cloth against the glass. 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...THE PARENTS OF PSYCHOTIC CHILDREN by MARVIN BELL VISITS TO ST. ELIZABETHS by ELIZABETH BISHOP FOR THE MAD by LUCILLE CLIFTON STONEHENGE by ALBERT GOLDBARTH DAY ROOM: ST. ELIZABETHS HOSPITAL by MICHAEL S. HARPER SEELE IN RAUM by RANDALL JARRELL RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME by CAROLYN KIZER A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN |
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