Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, SURFACES AND MASKS; 23, by CLARENCE MAJOR


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

SURFACES AND MASKS; 23, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: And the single reality


and the single reality
of the closely lined buildings,
casa after casa,
reflected,
like a young man's convictions
(shaky,
upside-down, blurred,
like yellow-and-white flesh,
are somehow steady
and understood, sure
as the hand of a housekeeper
who has been
with the family
for nearly a century)
is a reality uncelebrated
except
in bad photographs
by determined tourists.

That's how important
the long dark point
of this simplicity is.
Is there progress?
Do you mean, uh, toward recognition?
Yes, eyes about to open to
the occasion, and it is
bending with the wind,
where everything suddenly
might be seen,
as it breaks with a snap,
and the joy of it,
transformed as understanding,
stays on clearly
centered
and smelling like sap
from a young branch.


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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