Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE WARD by DAVID IGNATOW

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE WARD ATTENDANT WHO OWNS HIS HOME SPEAKS AMICABLY
Last Line: PATIENTS AND ATTENDANT COMPOSE THE WARD
Subject(s): HOSPITALS;
I will sit out there and talk
about houses, taxes and land values
and which trains are best to catch
in the morning commute: all
that has sifted down from the great froth
of love and ideals.

The chair where I have sat listening
is worn round, my throat prepared
by a small niche from which that kind
of talk, like a needle placed to it,
begins to flow, like mucus.

But here alone, refusing for at least
one hour to be needled, I have this
satisfaction, this healing plaster
of a poem.



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