Classic and Contemporary Poetry
AH ... TO THE VILLAGES, by THOMAS MCGRATH Poet's Biography First Line: Leaving the splendid plaza and the esplanade Last Line: And contentment is momentary in the villages Subject(s): Towns; Villages | ||||||||
Leaving the splendid plaza and the esplanade -- The majestic facades of metropolitan unease -- Let us to the vast savannahs of despair Repair; and let us seek The panoramas of malaise, the continental anguish, The hysteria and the nausea of the villages. Somewhere -- perhaps where Omaha, like a disease, And the magnificent, brumal names of Fargo, of Kalamazoo, Infect the spirit with magnificent ennui -- A baroque splendor attends our small distress: We dress in the grand extravaganza of cafard. Still, there will come evenings without true discontent -- The sparrows loud in the dust and the crows gone cawing home To the little wood; the lights ending at the prairie, and -- As the divine and healing night comes down -- The town reeling, unreasonably content. In the one-horse town they have eaten the horse -- allons! But soft! Here are not only the megrims of small forms And the subliminal melancholy of the central square. Take care; for here you find An intermontane anguish in the wind that sings you home: Here is a false front distinguished as your own. And contentment is momentary in the villages. Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE HOURS; FOR INGRID ERHARDT, 1951-1971 by NORMAN DUBIE STREETS OF PEARL AND GOLD by CAROLYN KIZER THE LITTLE VILLAGE by ERIC PANKEY VILLAGE IN LATE SUMMER by CARL SANDBURG IN THE BERKSHIRE HILLS by LOUIS UNTERMEYER THE DESERTED VILLAGE by OLIVER GOLDSMITH CITY AND VILLAGE by ALEXANDER ANDERSON ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD IN ASIA by THOMAS MCGRATH |
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