Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, NORTH AMERICAN IMAGE CYCLE, SELECTION, by JAMES HARRISON


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NORTH AMERICAN IMAGE CYCLE, SELECTION, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: He throws a fifty-lire piece in the fountain
Last Line: Rain through the roof of a pagan temple on this gentle soul.
Alternate Author Name(s): Harrison, Jim
Subject(s): Anger; Italy; Wishes; Italians


He throws a fifty-lire piece in the fountain
and wants to tell his outrageous wish but they
won't listen. The wish won't count if you tell it
she says. He broods. The air is full of these goddamn
wops and their filthy pigeons. What good
is a wish that can't be told, that was wished
to anger those who won't hear it. Give me the single
raindrop that fell through the hole in the pagan
temple as my bride. Wishes must be phrased in old-time
languages, a sort of fatigued Episcopalian; here
and there is wasn't: that pinochle become the national
sport of the U.S.A.; that dysentery disappear straightaway
from earth; that the girl hidden in New York change
her silly predilection for her sisters, fall like
rain through the roof of a pagan temple on this gentle soul.





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