|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SMALL SELF AND THE LIBERAL SELF, by JAMES GALVIN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Perhaps you didn't realize Last Line: "no one is allowed to speak now Subject(s): Sky | |||
Perhaps you didn't realize Anything can happen under a sky like this. Never give in to surprise: Not for mountains Who turn under sheets and breathe in Each other's green scent; Not for the lights where nobody lives; Not for blood-colored mushrooms That rise up one after one like little presidents; Not for the small self, afraid It has misunderstood the question. Oh it's prepared to answer anyway, It has its array of modest affirmations Like anyone. Just that -- So many years and something in the leaves Does not fall. I find young starlings in the lake's ice, Their wings spread like death-flowers pressed in a book; Find moths spawned in the woodshed Like a winter's supply of blossoms. It's just that I was looking for a world To walk into empty-handed. That's when I found you, female, shamelessly Sailing toward me in your folded paper boat. Don't deny it, please. At night the self feels smaller And water is scarce in parts of the mind. The small self is obliged, therefore, To take back everything Anyone has ever said. No one is allowed to speak now But you 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...BUILDING A PAINTING A HOME by BOB HICOK HEAD SKY CONVOY PATTERN; I.M. FRANCO BELTRAMETTI by ANSELM HOLLO |
| |