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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ROAD, by LISA WILLIAMS
First Line: This is what poetry is (says the road)
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets
First Line: This is what poetry is (says the road)
Subject(s): Poetry & Poets
This is what poetry is (says the Road),
a laying down of uniform pattern
across a land you can't control
but which you think it best to flatten.
It's far from vivid. Look at the whole
flamboyant forest! Look at the paths
that can't be uttered by a mouth
and at the scattered arcs of light
more integral to this wide planet
than words will ever be. Your lines?
Like railroad tracks that cut the bracken,
bring something through, then disappear.
No one knows what speck was taken
or where it moved, and no one cares.
Copyright 2001 by The Modern Poetry Association.
This poem appears in the April 2001 issue of Poetry Magazine.
http://poetrymagazine.org
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