Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE STRING by CLARENCE MAJOR

Poet Analysis

First Line: MY MOTHER TIED / A STRING AROUND HER FINGER

My mother tied
a string around her finger
and just as she was
trying to tie it to mine
my sister ran off with it,
tying it first around a tree
then a bush, then
around the house
and up through
the moon and back.
By the time
she returned my mother
was old. She yanked at the string
as though it were a plant
in dry earth.
I picked up the string
and took it from there.


Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA
98368-0271, www.cc.press.org



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