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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE STORY OF THE END OF THE STORY, by JAMES GALVIN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: To keep from ending Last Line: Only the stories about them do Subject(s): Suicide | |||
To keep from ending The story does everything it can, Careful not to overvalue Perfection or undervalue Perfect chance, As I am careful not to do in telling. By now a lot has happened: Bridges under the water, No time outs, Sinewy voices from under the earth Braiding and going straight up In a faint line. I modify to simplify, Complicate to clarify. If you want to know your faults, marry. If you want to know your virtues, die. Then the heroine, Who resembles you in certain particulars, Precipitates the suicide Of the author, wretchedly obscure, Of that slim but turgid volume, By letting slip: Real events don't have endings, Only the stories about them do. 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...BOARDMAN AND COFFIN by CONRAD AIKEN FOR THE SUICIDES OF TWO YEARS AGO by DONALD JUSTICE SEVEN STREAMS OF NEVIS by GALWAY KINNELL DIDO AND AENEAS by CHARLES MARTIN I COULD NOT TELL by SHARON OLDS POOR DEVIL! by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET THE DREAM SONGS: 145 by JOHN BERRYMAN A DISCRETE LOVE POEM by JAMES GALVIN |
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