There are no things rain is like. Trees are like brick walls. But there are no things the walls themselves are like. I'm like you. The contents of a book are like margarine. The hard green surface of my car is like a forest fire. There are adventures in things I cannot pinpoint -- like snow, a storm, or sleet. The handyman who sweeps the leaves in the yard is not like himself. German fiction is not like African fiction. The umbrellas are like birds. They fly in the rain. The radio says we can expect snow. The radio is not like itself. There are no things the rain is like. I am not like myself. I am not myself. I change but change is not itself. There are no things change is like. 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: WIDOW MCFARLANE by EDGAR LEE MASTERS THE LOVER IN HELL by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET WORDS IN A CERTAIN APPROPRIATE MODE by HAYDEN CARRUTH FOREST FLOWERS by ROBERT FROST NEW YEAR'S EVE by DAVID IGNATOW TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE ARABIAN SHAWL by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DOMESDAY BOOK: DR. TRACE TO THE CORONER by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |