Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HEARTLAND MUSIC, by CLARENCE MAJOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HEARTLAND MUSIC, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Crickets cranking shifting gears


Crickets cranking shifting gears,
and I lie down
on creeping lily turf
beneath weeping branches,
sad and happy, listening
to the thumping rhythm
of my own heartbeat,
as if counting my last few minutes,
a rhythm I see repeated
in the pinkish red sky
covering me like glasswork.
I wish you were here.

Patchwork clouds
cast down occasional shadows,
now bumping along
the shallow gulf here, keeping rhythm
to the drum in my chest
full of wind chimes.
Wish you were here.

Closing my eyes,
I listen to the tiny fingers
of wind plucking
and washing the wheat
in the field behind the house
where clusters of white flowers
spread wild, lingering
all around wheat like cattle ready to graze.

And rattling
my chimes too, it moves off,
pushing those clouds, the way
your backup chorus gets behind
your beating heart
when you are the solo.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org




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