Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FOODS by CALE YOUNG RICE

First Line: MY ROOF IS SLATE, MY WINDOWS LOOK
Last Line: NO HEART KNOWS.
Subject(s): BELLS; CHURCHES; FOOD & EATING; HEARTS; CATHEDRALS;

My roof is slate, my windows look
To east and westward over the town.
My walls are phalanxes of books
Whose thoughts march through me, up and down.

On streets about me stands a church
Whose bell sounds over the wind's tone,
A factory whose whistle shrieks
That men should live by bread alone.

Yet well they know they cannot -- for
It is not bread they want most,
But foods not to be had save through
A holy -- or unholy -- ghost.

I say this while the rain falls,
I say it while the wind blows,
I say it though what hearts should say
No heart knows.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net