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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AFTER WRITING A POEM, by DAVID IGNATOW Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: I do not want to be seen or heard or spoken to
Last Line: For one hour to eternity.
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Solitude; Loneliness
First Line: I do not want to be seen or heard or spoken to
Last Line: For one hour to eternity.
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets; Solitude; Loneliness
I do not want to be seen or heard or spoken to.
In the house I am grateful if it is empty
except for me. Only with wincing do I emerge
from my room, even into my wife's presence.
I am clean of all desire and passion,
clamor has died out in me. I am still
and peaceful. I think I exist
not in myself but in the air, unseen,
as I feel, unliving. I should say,
like Merton, that I sense myself in God
and do not wish to come out to live again.
I have lived and died by my own hand
and to come back is to break this pact
with myself, once more the crime committed
and I again without faith. But in presence
of my sin I grow restless and once more turn back
to rhythms of silence and alone again
take up a pen with which to commit myself
for one hour to eternity.
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV
IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE
SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS
SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA