Only As the Day Is Long by Dorianne Laux
Author:Dorianne Laux
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 2018-11-28T00:00:00+00:00
Savages
Those two shelves, down there.
—ADRIENNE RICH
for Matthew, Mike, Michael and Carl
They buy poetry like gang members
buy guns—for aperture, caliber,
heft and defense. They sit on the floor
in the stacks, thumbing through Keats
and Plath, Levine and Olds, four boys
in a bookstore, black glasses, brackish hair,
rumpled shirts from the bin at St. Vincent de Paul.
One slides a warped hardback
from the bottom shelf, the others
scoot over to check the dates,
the yellowed sheaves ride smooth
under their fingers.
One reads a stanza in a whisper,
another turns the page, and their heads
almost touch, temple to temple—toughs
in a huddle, barbarians before a hunt, kids
hiding in an alley while sirens spiral by.
When they finish reading one closes
the musty cover like the door
on Tutankhamen’s tomb. They are savage
for knowledge, for beauty and truth.
They crawl on their knees to find it.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Ancient, Classical & Medieval | Anthologies |
British & Irish | Japanese & Haiku |
Love Poems | Regional & Cultural |
Themes & Styles | United States |
Women Authors |
The Universe of Us by Lang Leav(14332)
The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur(13641)
Adultolescence by Gabbie Hanna(8127)
Whiskey Words & a Shovel II by r.h. Sin(7469)
Love Her Wild by Atticus(7213)
Smoke & Mirrors by Michael Faudet(5497)
Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi(4558)
The Princess Saves Herself in This One by Amanda Lovelace(4494)
Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav(4340)
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur(4210)
Memories by Lang Leav(4155)
Good morning to Goodnight by Eleni Kaur(3796)
Bluets by Maggie Nelson(3687)
Too Much and Not the Mood by Durga Chew-Bose(3683)
Algedonic by r.h. Sin(3483)
Pillow Thoughts by Courtney Peppernell(3355)
The Poetry of Pablo Neruda by Pablo Neruda(3347)
HER II by Pierre Alex Jeanty(3158)
Stuff I've Been Feeling Lately by Alicia Cook(3047)