A FOREFINGER of stone, dreamed by a sculptor, points to the sky.
It says: This way! this way!
 
Four lions snore in stone at the corner of the shaft.
They too are the dream of a sculptor.
They too say: This way! this way!
 
The street cars swing at a curve.
The middle-class passengers witness low life.
The car windows frame low life all day in pictures.
 
Two Italian cellar delicatessens
            sell red and green peppers.
The Florida bananas furnish a burst of yellow.
The lettuce and the cabbage give a green.
 
Boys play marbles in the cinders.
The boys’ hands need washing.
The boys are glad; they fight among each other.
 
A plank bridge leaps the Lehigh Valley railroad.
Then acres of steel rails, freight cars, smoke,
And then … the blue lake shore
…Erie with Norse blue eyes … and the white sun.

Added: Feb 4 2004 | Viewed: 1460 times | Comments (0)

Poet: Carl Sandburg
Poem: 15. Slants at Buffalo, New York
Volume: Cornhuskers
- Leather Leggings
Year: Published/Written in 1918
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