Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WATERSHED, by JAMES GALVIN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WATERSHED, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Here the land is tilted / like a gambrel roof. The world
Last Line: The knife that cuts the rain in two, the lie
Subject(s): Colorado (state); Mountains; Water; Hills; Downs (great Britain)


Here the land is tilted
Like a gambrel roof. The world
Slopes away from the Great Divide,
And all the people
And all the trees
Lean in the same direction
Just to stand up straight.

Even lies that lean that way are true,
Like wilsome pines at timberline.
When I die and turn to rain,
I'd like to fall into the distance
And stay awhile.

I'd be happy to be smaller,
Where close at hand is out of reach
And everything nearby is blue:
The denim work-clothes of the men,
Their axes in the spruce,
The spruce, the sky,
The knife that cuts the rain in two, the lie.


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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