Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, I'VE NOTHING TO OFFER, by DAVID IGNATOW



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

I'VE NOTHING TO OFFER, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: But forgiveness
Last Line: Of earth, air and water
Subject(s): Forgiveness


Overhead the elevated straddling the library
made a cool shade in summer. Across the street,
framed between two steel pillars, a dirt path
led through a grass lot to a hint of country life:
two-story wooden houses and chicken coops.

When, father-voiced, the rumbling train passed
above, the chickens cackled of their decisions
and appetites. For me, age twelve, there were
sounds of waterfall gods who lost themselves
in mist below as motion without matter,
effort without force, a heaven,
on every hand the signs and portents
of sublimity. I embraced its configurations
but in human role, with faculties of sight,
hearing and delight: my object pleasure
and my meaning self.

I awoke to the sound of my own steps.





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