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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TO AN UNSEEN BIRD, by KATHLEEN REA BRAID
First Line: Sharpened to a cutting edge on the whetstone
Last Line: "nor cavil with loathed months in rack-ridden years."
Subject(s): Birds; Solitude; Loneliness
First Line: Sharpened to a cutting edge on the whetstone
Last Line: "nor cavil with loathed months in rack-ridden years."
Subject(s): Birds; Solitude; Loneliness
Sharpened to a cutting edge on the whetstone
Of pain; held rigid in my chair facing
That right-angled enclosure I had come to hate
During an interminable night -- at once --
Outside, I heard a cry. It echoed yet belied
What I had felt. For awhile -- silence;
Then a pouring out of rounded sound!
No lark heard through the cadence of English song
Sent molten notes poignantly through clouds more black.
Oh, bird, I cannot even give you name,
Yet of rare kind you cannot be, for we are
Within our February night. Much thanks;
Your song came straight, "Nest, if need, in pumiced snow:
Nor cavil with loathed months in rack-ridden years."
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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
THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES
JOURNEYS by KATHLEEN REA BRAID
TO A MAN WORKING HIS WAY THROUGH THE CROWD by MARIANNE MOORE