Where I live distance is the primal fact The world is mostly far away and small Drifting along through cause and effect like sleep As when the distance unlikeliest of stems Bears the unlikely blossom of the wind Engendering our only weather dry Except in winter pine trees live on snow So greedy pulling down these drifts that bury The fences snap the trunks of smaller trees If the forest wants to go somewhere it spreads Like a prophecy its snow before it Technology a distant windy cause There is no philosophy of death where I live Only philosophies of suffering Used with the permission of Copper Canyon Press, P.O. Box 271, Port Townsend, WA 98368-0271, www.cc.press.org | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: WASHINGTON MCNEELY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS WHITE NOCTURNE by CONRAD AIKEN CONTRA MORTEM: THE CHILD by HAYDEN CARRUTH THE STORY OF THE END OF THE STORY by JAMES GALVIN SUGGESTED BY THE COVER OF A VOLUME OF KEATS'S POEMS by AMY LOWELL STUDY FOR A GEOGRAPHICAL TRAIL; 2. ILLINOIS by CLARENCE MAJOR |