Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MARTINIQUE, by CORNELIA OTIS SKINNER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MARTINIQUE, by                    
First Line: Great cone-shaped mountains rising from a stream
Last Line: Trailed on the wind the spice of carib seas?
Subject(s): Dreams; Islands; Nightmares


Great cone-shaped mountains rising from a stream
All jungle-tangled; little bamboo walls
Of native huts beside clear waterfalls --
An island like a mad and lovely dream.
Mandarin trees, hibiscus blooms that gleam
And burn. Small towns, toy travesties of France,
With jabbering markets, the inquiring glance
Of turbaned women on whose wrists there scream
Bright parroquets. Smells of the tropic night --
Crushed cinnamon and smoke and breadfruit trees.
Great unknown shadows and the quiet light
Of the cathedral. Did you dream of these,
O Josephine, when some great sail in flight
Trailed on the wind the spice of Carib Seas?





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