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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

ADVICE TO MY YOUNG WIFE by MAXWELL BODENHEIM

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: YOU HAVE SHATTERED YOUR HANDS
Last Line: IT OFTEN CLATTERS TO THE FLOOR.
Subject(s): ADVICE; MARRIAGE; WEDDINGS; HUSBANDS; WIVES;
You have shattered your hands
Against a lusterlessly brooding door
And called it life.
Life is breathlike shapelessness
That you must cut to fugitives
Of sound and color trampled by your feet.
Life is like the air
Bounding with unannounced frankness
Into beards of thieves and mountain-sides.
Offer all things myriad points
To sharply coil about your heart.
When naked breasts ask for the sword,
It often clatters to the floor.



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