Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Cracks in the Sidewalk: Delmore Schwartz, American Poet (1913-1966)

So rich

a mainstream his
precocious

school of thought:

returns

rapidly diminishing
recesses skip-

ping the side-
walk

where the fault-
line breaks

a mind mid-
stride

. . . .

by the road to the contagious hospital
and elsewere?

the pure products of America
go crazy--

Doc Williams spelled it out, Delmore,
but you could not

. . . .

be faultless be
wary daddy suspicious

fissures crack
the poor

mind open daily
don't let them

take in that child-
like heart

to night.

(
First published in Poetry Salzburg Review #3
, Autumn 2002)

1 comment:

  1. Vassilis,

    The child-like, innocent heart of the grossed-out heavy bear, shadow-boxing in the fumbling dark, forever stumbling toward the source of the contagion, the mud-bath of the pure product...

    ReplyDelete

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