[New-Poetry] Kunitz on the Writer's Almanac

[Anny Ballardini]

     Halley's Comet
      by Stanley Kunitz

      Miss Murphy in first grade
      wrote its name in chalk
      across the board and told us
      it was roaring down the stormtracks
      of the Milky Way at frightful speed
      and if it wandered off its course
      and smashed into the earth
      there'd be no school tomorrow. 
      A red-bearded preacher from the hills
      with a wild look in his eyes
      stood in the public square
      at the playground's edge
      proclaiming he was sent by God
      to save every one of us, 
      even the little children. 
      "Repent, ye sinners!" he shouted, 
      waving his hand-lettered sign. 
      At supper I felt sad to think
      that it was probably
      the last meal I'd share
      with my mother and my sisters; 
      but I felt excited too
      and scarcely touched my plate. 
      So mother scolded me
      and sent me early to my room. 
      The whole family's asleep
      except for me. They never heard me steal
      into the stairwell hall and climb
      the ladder to the fresh night air. 

      Look for me, Father, on the roof
      of the red brick building
      at the foot of Green Street-
      that's where we live, you know, on the top floor. 
      I'm the boy in the white flannel gown
      sprawled on this coarse gravel bed
      searching the starry sky, 
      waiting for the world to end. 

      "Halley's Comet" by Stanley Kunitz, from Passing Through © W.W. Norton & Co., 1997. Reprinted with permission. (buy now) 
     



Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com/
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
http://www.moriapoetry.com/ebooks.html
I Tell You: One must still have chaos in one to give birth to a dancing star! 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wiz.cath.vt.edu/pipermail/new-poetry/attachments/20080807/0292f5d0/attachment.html