Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


DRINKING SONG by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: I WANT TO DIE IN THE SADDLE. AN ENEMY OF CIVILIZATION
Last Line: CHEST, CLOUDS ABOVE, SHE WAS IN NY FOREVER AND I, FISHING AND DRINKING.
Subject(s): DRINKS & DRINKING; GRIEF; LOSS; SINGING & SINGERS; WINE; SORROW; SADNESS; SONGS;

I want to die in the saddle. An enemy of civilization
I want to walk around in the woods, fish and drink.

I'm going to be a child about it and I can't help it, I was
born this way and it makes me very happy to fish and drink.

I left when it was still dark and walked on the path to the
river, the Yellow Dog, where I spent the day fishing and drinking.

After she left me and I quit my job and wept for a year and
all my poems were born dead, I decided I would only fish and drink.

Water will never leave earth and whiskey is good for the brain.
What else am I supposed to do in these last days but fish and drink?

In the river was a trout, and I was on the bank, my heart in my
chest, clouds above, she was in NY forever and I, fishing and drinking.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net