Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


BIRMINGHAM by IDA DREAM SCHWARTZ

First Line: THE YELLOW STREAMS / REMEMBER THEIR CRYSTAL
Last Line: "WATCH ME GROW."
Subject(s): BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA;

The yellow streams
remember their crystal
before the steel-mills
and the by-product plants came
to burn the nights red
with ambition and longing.
The peaceful pines
confide to April stars
of other days
before the coming of the slag-piles
and the lonesome sky-scraper
that points to heaven like an accusing finger.
The summer nights
throw a scarlet banner of industry
across a smoky sky
blending a love song
to a challenge of
"Watch me grow."



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