Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

AS IF by JAMES GALVIN

Poem Explanation Poet Analysis

First Line: I THOUGHT IT TOOK
Last Line: HAVING RISEN ALL NIGHT TO SEE YOU
Subject(s): PASSION; SEX;
I thought it took
A red-tailed hawk
To make hunger
Look so easy.
As if
It was your first time with me,
You lay awake all night,
Though your clothes
Went right to sleep
Like man's best friend
When you slipped
Into that other landscape.
As if the steam iron
Could dream
Of being a whale,
Becalmed in sea-wrinkles,
The distance
(Such a lonesome cowboy)
Only shrugged
And walked away.
How were you to know
What passions
Stood on their toes
For a better look
When you brushed your hair
From your forehead --
They were undone!
The vacant sun
Has better manners
Than anyone.
When you rose
In the first, slender light,
It touched your shoulder --
But only a little --
As if to say,
@3Excuse me, you dropped this@1,
Having risen all night to see you.


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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