July 1, 1945
Home Abroad
More brutal doesn’t live than this big soldier,Minding New Orleans (a gal),Valorous deeds to hold her,And a wedding veil. Distracted not at all by duties foreign,He desecrates his leader’s timeAnd […]
July 1, 1945
Elegy for a Child on Easter Morning
Through illusional leaves she had some graceIn the sun in her youngness with him.The effusions of birds, the mere ingenuous shadingOf their songs, awakened to dance or raceWith the dapple […]
July 1, 1945
Hester Prynne
The scaffold where dishonoured Hester stoodOn Sunday morning, hugging little Pearl,Is down, and no one of that sombre crowdHangs on to boo the bad old girl. Even all those magistrates […]
July 1, 1945
Another Soldier,… From the Aleutians
The man from Kiska, saying the green lightAnd the lost islands trouble him like sleep, Sits in this roomAnd talks to you a little about war.Pressed in the mind, the cold […]
July 1, 1945
Five Poems
I. O, might I die like the rhythm of this day, come sea,come fire, for my forever blood will never beuntil it crucify. No flesh but stone, no soul but night; from God […]
July 1, 1945
State of Soul in Grand Rapids
This is the city of my anger, the warden of my pain.Had it scribbled on my cuff in contradictions, had itingrown in my knees; but reined my dogs in whenI […]
July 1, 1945
Sentimental Theme
Frankly, Mother, we have fed you always aconiteand antimony, but our best behaviors sat byat the table in those polite years whereofwe had gladly composed a commensurate sonnet,but lacked the […]
July 1, 1945
A Ghost, a Real Ghost
I think of that old woman in the songWho could not know herself without the skirtThey cut off while she slept beside a stile.Her dog jumped at the unaccustomed legsAnd […]
July 1, 1945
Soldier Sewing on Chevrons
For Sidney Cox Reading the book, and thinking to himselfHow a small iris, yellow like the sun,Invades the coast near Athens, he has learnedA little about peace; but not the […]
July 1, 1945
On the Death of Some One Close
Neither the least nor the mostSorrow is becomingIn this instance.A certain gravity,A solemn pose denotingGrief well-borneIs probably correct. At parties be reserved.Restrain the raucous chuckleAnd the dirty joke.Drink less,Incline to […]
July 1, 1945
This Is It
This is the battle to end the buying of bonds,The battle bastards dying don’t in vain.This is the time, men, it, and after you climbThat hill, cross that open space, […]
July 1, 1945
The Germans Are Lunatics
Of course, of course! Who else would dieFor profits from some thankless colony,And rot beneath the curt outlandish stoneFor markets long since settled as our own? Would any sane man […]