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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ON THE IRT, by KAREN SWENSON Poet's Biography First Line: A lily in a burdock nosegay Last Line: Swarms fireflies in a jar sealed by aphasia. Subject(s): Caregivers; Children; Subways; Childhood | |||
A lily in a burdock nosegay, she holds the center pole surrounded by other herded children - two mongoloid boys swing to the train's rhythm, playing catch with words they mouth through the subway's steel scream; two girls, eyes dusty as tenement windows, hold hands as though grasping inanimate objects. She, one perfect note in this off-key chorus, face radiant as a Renaissance angel with what we believe makes humans most divine, grunts and squeals and growls. The young woman with movie-star hair, who chaperons this congregation of Down's and other damage, reprimands her back to silence. Her face retaining ecstasy swarms fireflies in a jar sealed by aphasia. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE THREE CHILDREN by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN CHILDREN SELECTING BOOKS IN A LIBRARY by RANDALL JARRELL COME TO THE STONE ... by RANDALL JARRELL THE LOST WORLD by RANDALL JARRELL A SICK CHILD by RANDALL JARRELL CONTINENT'S END by ROBINSON JEFFERS ON THE DEATH OF FRIENDS IN CHILDHOOD by DONALD JUSTICE |
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