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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
CONTRA MORTEM: THE CHILD'S BEING, by HAYDEN CARRUTH Poet Analysis Poet's Biography
First Line: Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
Last Line: A being freeborn and intricate like the day
Subject(s): Children; Youth; Childhood
First Line: Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
Last Line: A being freeborn and intricate like the day
Subject(s): Children; Youth; Childhood
Extended and always uncentered which is why it scares
everyone but him When an insistent finger
stabs him with a you he only stares
uncomprehendingly a stranger
to the pronominal itch and then pointing anywhere
to the tree the cloud the flower distant or near
expostulates in manic delight
me me me a spendthrift spate
of consciousness And thus the child puts on
his being as the dark world
in its necessity puts on the dawn
by turning toward it The child
trembling in halflight giving himself away
becomes sun's favor the choice of what is not willed
a being freeborn and intricate like the day.
Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org
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