Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WAR SUITE: 3, by JAMES HARRISON


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

WAR SUITE: 3, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: The elephant to couple in peace
Last Line: Dark and clear within her continent.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Death; Elephants; Night; Dead, The; Bedtime


The elephant to couple in peace,
the porpoise to be free of the microphone;
this page to know a master, a future,
a page with the flesh melodious,
to bring her up through the page, paper-shrouded,
from whatever depth she lies,
dulling her gift, bringing her to song
and not to life.

̺ ̺ ̺

This death mask to harden before
the face escapes, life passes
down through the neck -- the sculptor
turns hearing it rub against the door.

̺ ̺ ̺

Mind to stay free of madness, of war;
war all howling and stiff-necked dead,
night of mind punctuated with moans and stars,
black smoke moiling, puling mind striped as a zebra,
ass in air madly stalking her lion.

̺ ̺ ̺

Fire to eat tar, tar to drip,
hare to beat hound
grouse to avoid shot
trout to shake fly
chest to draw breath
breath to force song,
a song to be heard,
remembered and sung.

̺ ̺ ̺

To come to an opening in a field
without pausing, to move there in a full circle of light;
but night's out there not even behind the glass --
there's nothing to keep her out or in;
to walk backward to her, to step
off her edge or become her edge,
to swell and roll in her darkness,
a landlocked sea moving free --
dark and clear within her continent.





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