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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHAM TOWERS AT DA NANG, by KAREN SWENSON Poet's Biography First Line: God-faces that once glared at the sun Last Line: Their great-grandparents could not recollect. Subject(s): Colonialism; Sculpture & Sculptors; Vietnam | |||
God-faces that once glared at the sun have weathered to soft ovals and eroded rounds, which seem to wait for a chisel to draw features from stone, articulate as lovers' lips murmuring in this tower's shade. Perhaps the lips the couples use to kiss are the residual estate of ancient sculptors worn down by intermarriage with invaders until the lineaments of their inheritance are now long lost. The farmers burn paper money, offerings of make-believe rent, to pay off spirits of landowners their great-grandparents could not recollect. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE BIRDS OF VIETNAM by HAYDEN CARRUTH CAMBODIA by ALICIA SUSKIN OSTRIKER THE CUBAN IN VIETNAM by VIRGIL SUAREZ HYBRIDS OF WAR: A MORALITY POEM: 1. VIETNAM by KAREN SWENSON TIME AND THE PERFUME RIVER by KAREN SWENSON FOR A MISSING IN ACTION by JOHN BALABAN AUTUMN LANDSCAPE by HO XUAN HUONG |
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