Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


GHAZALS: 51 by JAMES HARRISON

Poet Analysis

First Line: WHO COULD PUT ANYTHING TOGETHER THAT WOULD STAY IN ONE PLACE
Last Line: CHARM AND WANT EVERYONE TO GO BACK TO THEIR SNOT-NOSED SLUMS.
Subject(s): AGING; WEST (U.S.); SOUTHWEST; PACIFIC STATES;

Who could put anything together that would stay in one place
as remorseless as that cabin hidden in the maple grove.

In Nevada the whores are less clean and fresh than in
Montana, and do not grow more beautiful with use.

The car went only seventeen miles before the motor burned up
and I sat in the grass thinking I had been taken and was sad.

This toothache means my body is wearing out, new monkey glands
for ears in the future, dog teeth, a pink transplanted body.

She is growing old. Of course with the peach, apple, plum,
you can eat around the bruised parts but still the core is black.

Windemere and Derwent Water are exhausted with their own
charm and want everyone to go back to their snot-nosed slums.



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