Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, KITCHEN CHAIR POEM #4, by CLARENCE MAJOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

KITCHEN CHAIR POEM #4, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: So they fought-not easy himself


So they fought -- not easy himself
to cope with. It was also around this time
that the boxer began to really see,
to ease up from the girl next door.
This girl was made unhappy
because her baby died -- frail girl,
alone in her small room,
if I remember correctly.
How strange, the small baby
reaching toward anything motherlike.
How strange
her sticky candy fingers
twisted,
and sour milk all over her face.
She almost managed to live,
growing sticks for arms and legs
small and weak. Someone once walked her
in a neglected park and she crumbled.
Somebody walked her again
in the neglected park and she buckled.
One night she rolled over onto a radiator -- her tiny ribs arms face grilling,
frying all night, while her mother, drunk and wet
with a fighter boxing in his sleep on her, with the TV still going.


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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