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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE IMPORTANCE OF GREEN, by JAMES GALVIN Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Small towns are for knowing who's poor Last Line: No more than the dress itself / of green Subject(s): Green (color); Poverty; Tailors; Towns; Dress Makers | |||
Small towns are for knowing who's poor. I recognized her, the welder's daughter. In a store she touched a green dress, But she couldn't buy it. The salesgirl scolded, making her ashamed. That's how the sun comes through the open door today, Still poor from night rain. The road to town is a muddy tongue. The forest stands ajar And I could get up from this chair and disappear Into the coldly steaming pine, Which is like the next great philosophy That will pity no one. Its particularity is awesome. The blue flower whose name I never remember Joys through the eyeholes of a horse's skull, A horse named Lola we kids rode. Past the anthill roofed with mothwings, Handfuls of elk hair like smoke the barbed wire snagged. At sunset the invisible lakes rise and color Like pieces of the biggest mirror ever broken. Like those things, But not those things exactly. Interchangeable, let's say. I could walk through groves where there are no paths Until I was shrouded in cobwebs -- I've done it before -- Like someone who lived in a dark cellar forever. Like someone who lived in a dark cellar forever, Needles resilient under my feet, I could walk out into the sunlight And tell you the truth: The girl who wanted the dress doesn't matter -- No more than the dress itself, Or green. 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 TAILOR by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE TWO OF A TRADE by ROWLAND EYLES EGERTON-WARBURTON OF A PRECISE TAILOR by JOHN HARRINGTON EVENING, BY A TAILOR by OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES YE TAILYOR-MAN; A CONTEMPLATIVE BALLAD by JOHN GODFREY SAXE A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN A MAN'S VOCATION IS NOBODY'S BUSINESS by JAMES GALVIN A POEM FROM BOULDER RIDGE by JAMES GALVIN A POEM FROM THE EDGE OF AMERICA by JAMES GALVIN |
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