Saturday, September 8, 2018

The Word from the Corner - Amy Lowell and Ted Kooser

The Word from the Corner

     (originally posted on Facebook "North Andover Poets Corner" 11 Aug 2018)

Two poems about travel this week. One about traveling away from one you love, the second about traveling together. Didn't want to have one without the other. Peace.
______________________________________________
The Taxi
By Amy Lowell (1874–1925)
When I go away from you
The world beats dead
Like a slackened drum.
I call out for you against the jutted stars
And shout into the ridges of the wind.
Streets coming fast,
One after the other,
Wedge you away from me,
And the lamps of the city prick my eyes
So that I can no longer see your face.
Why should I leave you,
To wound myself upon the sharp edges of the night?
























_________________________________________________

A Map of the World
by Ted Kooser (b.1939)
One of the ancient maps of the world
is heart-shaped, carefully drawn
and once washed with bright colors,
though the colors have faded
as you might expect feelings to fade
from a fragile old heart, the brown map
of a life. But feeling is indelible,
and longing infinite, a starburst compass
pointing in all the directions
two lovers might go, a fresh breeze
swelling their sails, the future uncharted,
still far from the edge
where the sea pours into the stars.
_________________________________________________
Both are from "The Best of Poetry In Motion", edited by Alice Quinn, selections from the continuing NYC MTA program that started in 1992 and posted art and poetry in the NY subways.



No comments:

Post a Comment