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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GHAZALS: 40 by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: IF YOU WERE LESS OF A VOWEL OR HAD A FULL STOP IN YOUR
Last Line: AND THE GIANT SQUID WHO SCARS THE WHALE WITH SUCKER MARKS.
Subject(s): CHANGE; IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS;

If you were less of a vowel or had a full stop in your
brain. A cat's toy, a mouse stuffed with cotton.

It seems we must reject the ovoid for the sphere,
the sphere for the box, the box for the eye of the needle.

And the world for the senate for the circus
for the war for a fair for a carnival. The hobbyhorse.

The attic for a drawer and the drawer for a shell.
The shell for the final arena of water.

That fish with teeth longer than its body is ours
and the giant squid who scars the whale with sucker marks.



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