Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, POSING, by CLARENCE MAJOR



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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

POSING, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: They've forced me to pose


They've forced me to pose
in the picture with them.
I'm the unhappy one
standing next to the man
with sixty miles
of summer in his smile.
Like the others,
I'm looking at the camera.

Now I'm looking
at the photograph to see
if any of the fifteen
of us has been, magically,
moved out of place,
shifted forward
or to the side,
changed in any way.

Why are we posing?
Because there is
terrible faith
in the ill-equipped future.
We pose for the conquest of it,
to keep the setting sun behind us,
to assure the photographer
that we believe
in his belief in us.


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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