[New-Poetry] Strawberry on whipped cream

[David Graham]

On 10/2/06 12:16 PM, "Anny Ballardini" <anny.ballardini at tin.it> wrote:

> Thus studying should be the strawberry on whipped cream, as they say in Italy.
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Idiomatic 
 
It is a big question to pose so early in the morning
or ³in the light woven by birds²
as the Estonians say,
but still I must ask what is my place in life?
my ³seat on the invisible train²,
as they say in Hungary.
I mean I am just sitting here
in a lawn chair listening to a thrush,
³the little entertainer of the woods²,
as the Swiss call him,
while out there in the world
mobs of people are rushing over bridges
in and out of cities?
Vegetables grow heavy in their fields,
clouds fly across the ³face of the earth²
as we call it in English,
and sometimes rockets lift off in the distance ­
and I mean that quite literally,
³from the top of the table² as the Portuguese have it,
real rockets rising from the horizon,
or ³the big line if you¹re an Australian,
leaving behind rich gowns of exhaust smoke,
long, smooth trajectories,
and always the ocean below,
³the water machine² as the South Sea islanders put it ­
everything takes place right on schedule,
³by the clock of the devil²,
as our grandparents were fond of saying.
And still here I sit with my shirt off,
the dog at my side, daydreaming ­
³juggling balls of cotton², as they like to say in France.
 
 
--Billy Collins


====================================================
David Graham
grahamd at ripon.edu
Home Page:
http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/GrahamD/index.html
Poetry Library:
http://www.ripon.edu/faculty/GrahamD/poetrylib.html
====================================================



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