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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GHAZALS: 41 by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: SONG FOR NAT KING COLE AND THE DOG WHO ATE THE BABY
Last Line: PICKER, THE HAY BALER, THE GUN AND THRONE AND GRENADE.
Subject(s): INVENTIONS & INVENTORS; SINGING & SINGERS; SONGS;

Song for Nat King Cole and the dog who ate the baby
from the carriage as if the carriage were a bowl.

A leafy peace & wormless earth we want, no wires,
connections, struts or props, only guitars and flutes.

The song of a man with a dirty-minded wife -- there is
smoke from her pit which is the pit of a peach.

I wrenched my back horribly chopping down a tree -- quiff,
quim, queeritus, peter hoister, pray for torn backs.

The crickets are chirping tonight and an ant crosses
the sleeping body of a snake to get to the other side.

I love the inventions of men, the pea sheller, the cherry
picker, the hay baler, the gun and throne and grenade.



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