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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GHAZALS: 50 by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: A BOOT CALLED BOTTE SAUVAGE RENDERS RATTLERS HARMLESS BUT THEY
Last Line: EDGES ARE JAGGED; WHEN COLD, THE SKIN PEELS OFF THE TONGUE AT TOUCH.
Subject(s): ANGER; ANIMALS; SNAKES; WOMEN; SERPENTS; VIPERS;

A boot called Botte Sauvage renders rattlers harmless but they
cost too much; the poet bitten to death for want of boots.

I'm told that black corduroy offers protection from moonburn
and that if you rub yourself with a skunk, women will stay away.

There is a hiding place among the relics of the fifties, poets
hiding in the trunks of Hudson Hornets off the Merritt Parkway.

They said she was in Rome with her husband, a sculptor, but
I'm not fooled. At the Excelsior I'll expose her as a whore.

Down in the canyon the survivors were wailing in the overturned
car but it was dark, the cliffs steep, so we drove on to the bar.

She wants affection but is dressed in aluminum siding and her
edges are jagged; when cold, the skin peels off the tongue at touch.



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